Littletree, S., O’Neal, J., Begay, V., Soto, A., Marsh, D., Thorpe, K. and Palmer, C.L. (2025). Relational Accountability in Indigenous Data Stewardship and Archival Practices. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 62, 1258-1263. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.1378
The responsible stewardship of Indigenous information and research data in information institutions is grounded in two key understandings. The first is an awareness of national and international frameworks related to Indigenous archive and data sovereignty, and the second is an understanding of relational accountability and local cultural protocols that prioritize community wellbeing. This panel brings together scholars, practitioners, and educators at the forefront of Indigenous methodologies, data stewardship, and archival sovereignty to engage in dialogue with attendees about past, present, and future approaches to Indigenous data and archival stewardship. The panel provides an opportunity to envision together the next phase of this work amid the growth of Indigenous data and archival sovereignty movements, even in the face of political resistance.
Littletree, S., Guerrero, N., & Belarde-Lewis, M. (2025). Stewarding Indigenous language data: Case studies in CARE. IFLA Journal, 0(0). https://doi-org.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/10.1177/03400352251348439
Stewarding qualitative Indigenous research data in libraries and repositories requires a nuanced, culturally responsive approach that respects Indigenous values and emphasizes relational accountability. This paper, using a case study approach, explores the decisions scholars of Indigenous language and culture face when depositing research data into a university-based special collections. The findings underscore issues of institutional trust and also indicate that providing access to their qualitative research data for future generations and community building is paramount. It also emphasizes the value of collaborative curation involving scholars, Indigenous communities, and the need for coordination between special collections and research data services within libraries. The aim of this research is to support libraries and repositories as they work to implement the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data for qualitative research data in alignment with Indigenous research methods and Indigenous knowledge systems.
Palmer, C.L., Karcher, S., Belarde-Lewis, M., Littletree, S., and Guerrero, N. (2024). Stewarding Contextual Integrity in Data Services for Indigenous Scholarship. Proceedings from the Association for Information Science and Technology 61(1), 626-631. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.1070
Best Short Paper Award at 2024 Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) Annual Meeting, Oct.25-29, Alberta, CAN.
The CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance provide essential guideposts for the stewardship of Indigenous data. To put CARE into practice in libraries and repositories, resources are needed to support implementation and integration into current research data services (RDS). This paper builds on case studies with scholars of Indigenous language and culture, articulating specific Indigenous research and data practices to help guide metadata work and other areas of responsibility in RDS. The cases surface the richness of relationships and the significance of accountability in the research process—demonstrating the “relational accountability” inherent in Indigenous research methods. Robust representation of relationality is essential to retaining integrity of context in metadata for Indigenous research data. We consider the practical implications of documenting relational context with current descriptive metadata approaches and challenges toward achieving CARE adherent metadata, which we argue is the backbone for broader application of CARE for Indigenous RDS.
Belarde-Lewis, M., Littletree, S., Braine, I.R., Srader, K., Guerrero, N. and Palmer, C.L. (2024). Centering Relationality and CARE for Stewardship of Indigenous Research Data. Data Science Journal, 23(1), p. 32. https://doi.org/10.5334/dsj-2024-032
The CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance are a seminal advance in the stewardship of Indigenous data. The Data Services for Indigenous Scholarship and Sovereignty (DSISS) project is working to guide how research libraries and data repositories can apply the CARE principles to support scholars of Indigenous culture and language. Building on a set of foundational case studies of Indigenous scholarship, this paper reports on analysis of formal engagement activities with scholars, Indigenous community members, and information and data professionals. We discuss three prominent themes—ownership, trust, and relational accountability—and their implications for concrete steps toward implementation of the CARE principles in research data services (RDS). The results show that sustaining and furthering Indigenous scholarship and data sovereignty in alignment with CARE requires infrastructure and services that attend to a mix of interrelated, and potentially divergent, interests of scholars, Indigenous communities, and institutions. RDS professionals need to build expertise in Indigenous research methods and the sensitivities and distinctiveness inherent in Indigenous ways of knowing. Stewarding institutions will need to make significant investments in restoring trust as genuine extensions of relational accountability.
Palmer, C.L., Belarde-Lewis, M., Hohn, T., & Teuton, C.B. (2022). Indigenous Research Data Case Study: Toward Contextual Integrity for Indigenous Data. University of Washington ResearchWorks Archive. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/49173
This white paper examines the complexities and constraints inherent in the stewardship of qualitative Indigenous research data. Framed by a background discussion covering Indigenous research approaches, ethical engagement, and Indigenous data sovereignty, the paper presents three research cases involving Cherokee, Nisqually, and Zuni communities and data sources. The case studies represent current perspectives, priorities, and practices of scholars committed to ethical work with Indigenous tribes, communities, and families. Informed by the concept of contextual integrity and the CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance, the analysis develops a contextual integrity profiling approach for explicating significant contextual factors associated with each case and preliminary data curation goals aimed at achieving CARE compliant protocols and protections for qualitative data infrastructure and services.
Presentations
S. Littletree, J. O’Neal, V. Begay, A. Soto, D. Marsh, K. Thorpe, C. L. Palmer. (2025). Relational Accountability in Indigenous Data Stewardship and Archival Practices. Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) Annual Meeting, November 14-18. Washington, D.C., USA.
Palmer, Carole L. (2024). Stewarding Contextual Integrity in Data Services for Indigenous Scholarship. Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) Annual Meeting, October 25-29. Calgary, CAN.
Littletree, Sandy (2024). Stewarding Indigenous Language Data: Case Studies in CARE. IFLA Indigenous Matters Symposium, August 7, 2024. Mexico City, Mexico.
Palmer, Carole L. (2023). Data Practices Research for Discipline Responsive Curation and Stewardship. Conceptualizing Data Behavior: Bridging Data-centric and User-centric Approaches. Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T) Annual Meeting, October 27-31. London, UK.
Belarde-Lewis, M., Karcher, S., Littletree, S., Palmer, C.L., & Weber, N. (2023). Implementing Data Services for Indigenous Scholarship and Sovereignty. International Association for Social Science Information Service and Technology (IASSIST), May 30-June 2, Philadelphia, PA.
Belarde-Lewis, Miranda. (2023). Keynote. “Building Cultural Information Bridges.” Advancing Pathways for Long-Term Collaborations at Dartmouth. Dartmouth College. Hanover, NH.
Palmer, C. (2022). Data stewardship principles and potentials: Knowledge organization for contextual integrity and convergence. Keynote presentation for the 20th International Conference on Dublin Core Metadata Applications (DCMI 2022), October 5, 2022.
Press
iSchool researchers help advance libraries to support Indigenous data sovereignty. (2025). Center for Advances in Libraries, Museums, and Archives. Retrieved July 28, 2025. Available at: https://calma.ischool.uw.edu/ischool-researchers-help-advance-libraries-to-support-indigenous-data-sovereignty/
An Emerging Framework for Data Services for Indigenous Data. (2024). ITHAKA S+R blog. Available at: https://sr.ithaka.org/blog/an-emerging-framework-for-data-services-for-indigenous-data/
iSchool leads effort to improve stewardship of Indigenous data. (2022). University of Washington Information School. Retrieved June 10, 2024, Available at: https://ischool.uw.edu/news/2022/01/ischool-leads-effort-improve-stewardship-indigenous-data