An Evolving Approach to Supporting Indigenous Data Sovereignty in an Institutional Data Repository

Within our institutional data repository, the Data Repository for the University of Minnesota (DRUM), we seek to improve and strengthen our relations with Minnesota Native Tribal Nations (Dakota and Anishinaabe) by supporting and advocating for Indigenous data sovereignty (IDSov), which affirms the rights of Indigenous Peoples, communities, and Nations to govern the collection, ownership, and application of data pertaining to them, their lands, and their non-human relations. We are reviewing our processes and content to better align them with the CARE principles (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, and Ethics) of Indigenous Data Governance. We initiated this effort in 2021 when a dataset was submitted that contained data collected on Tribal lands. This lightning talk will discuss practices we have implemented since 2021 and describe the initial progress of our current efforts: After 2021, we sought to further educate ourselves about Indigenous Data Sovereignty through research and attending conferences, added a request for tribal consent as an initial step in the submission for all researchers who submit to the repository, and established a relationship with the University of Minnesota Native American Affairs Office. In 2024, we served as a capstone host for a member of the Data Services Continuing Professional Education program who created an audit protocol and initial dataset of records from our repository that are potentially governed by Tribal nations. We are currently building upon that project and working to deepen our relationship with the UMN Native American Affairs Office, partnering with them to select and update a list of keywords to search our repository, and expanding upon the initial audit to review all the content in our data repository for datasets potentially governed by Tribal nations.