Tammi has worked to broaden the library’s programming and service reach beyond the library’s walls in order to reach its majority-indigenous American population. By forging strong partnerships with other city departments and community organizations, Tammi has facilitated a library presence at festivals, health fairs, career days and other local events, and program attendance continues to climb.

Through Tammi’s efforts, the library has focused its programming on socially relevant issues, generational experiences and opportunities for open dialogue. Library programs have addressed a wide range of historically sensitive topics for the community, notably the involuntary sterilization of indigenous women and the incarceration and murder of indigenous activists. As one of her nominators noted, “Confronting our historical and current, very real issues is exactly what [Tammi] has inaugurated, in an unbelievably effective series of instructive installations, displays, and programs. The public library has become a center for deeply probing our own history, our own conflicts, and our own individual and collective roles in those conflicts.”

Tammi was honored during the 2022 I Love My Librarian virtual award ceremony. Listen to her remarks below!