KPU librarians Kelsey Chaban, Interim Indigenous & EDIA Liaison Librarian, and Cleire Lauron, Metadata and Discovery Librarian, described their rearrangement of library spaces to reflect Canadian First Nations culture and their implementation of the Brian Deer classification system on the χʻəχʻéy̓əm Indigenous Collection during a talk at the American Library Association's LibLearnX 2025 conference.
Established in 1981, KPU has five campuses in Surrey, British Colombia. The Kwantlen Traditional Territory extends from Richmond and New Westminster in the west, to Surrey and Langley in the south, east to Mission, and to the northernmost reaches of Stave Lake. In their land acknowledgement, Chaban and Lauron said "our work takes place on the unceded traditional and ancestral lands of the Kwantlen, šxʷməθkʷəyemaɁɬ təməxʷ (Musqueam), sqəciyaɁɬ təməxʷ (Katzie), Semiahmoo, scəwaθenaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsawwassen), Qayqayt and kʷikʷəƛəm (Kwikwetlem) peoples."
A guiding principle when reimagining the physical space was the Indigenous concept of circle learning and sharing. Instead of the traditional library shelving with rows of book stacks and a single aisle, KPU arranged the χʻəχʻéy̓əm Indigenous Collection on circular shelves with four chairs arranged in the central area. This reflects a reimagination of the role of librarians, moving from "library as authority" to "librarian in community". It encourages knowledge sharing and collaboration.
University libraries, at least in North America, often use the Library of Congress classification system. However, it has limitations and biases, particularly when it comes to Indigenous cultures. KPU decided to adopt a modified Brian Deer Classification (BDC) system for its Indigenous collection. BDC was developed by a Mohawk librarian from Kahnawake, Quebec, in the mid-1970s, and is based in Indigenous knowledge structures. A further modification of BDC at KPU was the addition of Cutter numbers to identify materials specific to Communities or Nations. Another innovation is the shelving of materials based on special relations. For example, Coast Salish are shelved separately from Interior Salish.
The impact of the reimagination project is apparent when looking at the number of checkouts, which almost tripled from April 2022 to December 22024.