Yá’át’ééh and Welcome

Yá’át’ééh, Shí éí Donovan yinishyé (Hello, they call me Donovan.)

I’m currently serving as the Acting Program Supervisor for the Office of Navajo Nation Library, which is the Main Library based in the heart of the Navajo Nation, Window Rock, AZ. It is certainly a great privilege to serve Diné in this fashion, as those on the Navajo Nation whose information needs have gone unmet for quite some time, it will be the highest priority being in the position I’m in, and I can implement change where necessary.

I first began my journey as a librarian in the Master of Arts in Library and Information Science (MLIS) program (American Library Association accredited) at the University of Arizona back in 2015. I finished the MLIS program in May of 2019, during that time I was able to serve as the Acting Program Supervisor for the Torreon Community Library in the Torreon/Star-Lake Chapter in Torreon, NM (2018). I also served and experienced being a librarian in academic, public, and tribal libraries as a graduate assistant.

In summer of 2020, I finished writing my thesis work that focused on an assessment of how the Navajo language is being taught and what difficulties it has being front and present all over the Navajo Nation. In finishing that writing, I was awarded a Master of Arts degree in Linguistics focused on Native American Languages, I do have a good amount of linguistics knowledge as well as doing language analyzation, documenting languages, and turning those scholarly work into usable pedagogy for secondary learners.

I still design….

Surprisingly, I’m also a multidisciplinary designer who’s focus lies heavily on graphic design, web, and UX design. I feel my skills are expertly achieved with:

• Adobe Creative Cloud: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Adobe XD
• WordPress – I encourage the use of WP and I create WP themes
• Designing/developing web pages from scratch, I’m efficient with XHTML and CSS
• User testing and mapping the user experience
• Logo making, branding, typography, print design, layout design, photo-editing, and photo manipulation

It is within our traditions that we introduce ourselves, since digital connectivity is a form of bonding – this section will go over my identity in Diné Bizaad: