Month: November 2022

“We believe rather that what people read is deeply important; that ideas can be dangerous; but that the suppression of ideas is fatal to a democratic society. Freedom itself is a dangerous way of life, but it is ours.” — The Freedom to Read Statement, a joint statement by the American Library Association and the Association of American Publishers

The LIS Program publicly affirms our strong commitment to intellectual freedom as stated in the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read Statement. These statements build on basic freedoms expressed in the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, Article III of both the 1864 and 1887 Constitutions of the Hawaiian Kingdom, as well as Article I Section 4 of the Hawaiʻi State Constitution and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. 

Everyone has a right to freely express their ideas and thoughts. Freedom of expression is a basic human right, guaranteed by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It is globally recognized and codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Our history of suppression of opinions, language, culture, and democratic society teaches us the importance of this fundamental right as human dignity (the 1864 Ke Kumukānāwai o ka Makahiki). 

What we often overlook is that freedom of speech cannot be fully exercised without protecting the right of people to receive information. We are concerned and distressed about the recent surge of organized censors and other individuals’ efforts to deprive people of intellectual freedom.

The LIS Program faculty and students are aware that we, information professionals, are in the frontlines of preserving freedom of expression, and that advocating for these freedoms comes with responsibilities. However, in the past, we have observed many incidents in which individual librarians sacrificed their own careers to protect their patrons’ right to read. But we also have learned that the most effective defense of freedom of expression is solidarity in support of the freedom to read. 

We encourage our alumni, colleagues, and friends to join Unite Against Book Bans and other organizations that encourage resisting censorship of library materials, which we see as a rising threat to democracy. 

We strongly believe that libraries are best prepared to defend intellectual freedom when they are run by trained professionals who understand and follow transparent processes for responding to materials challenges. As LIS faculty, we strive to follow the ALISE Ethical Guidelines for Library and Information Science Educators, and make sure that our graduates are ready to advocate for key principles of intellectual freedom in both theory and ethical practice regardless of type of library or archival repository.

LIS Alumnus and UH Mānoa librarian and archivist Helen Wong Smith has been awarded the President’s Award of Excellence, a national honor, by the Council of State Archivists (CoSA) for being a leader in cultural competency in archives. Helen is currently serving as a cultural competency consultant as part of CoSA’s Institution of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant-funded BACKER (Building Archival Capacity for Keeping Electronic Records) project.

Helen has previously worked as the Hawaiian Collection Librarian at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo, lead archivist for the Pacific Island Network of the National Park Service, and currently works as the archivist and librarian for University Records at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She has been elected president of the Association of Hawaiʻi Archivists twice, served as president of the Hawaii Library Association and the Hawaiian Historical Society, and is the current Vice President/President-Elect of the Society of American Archivists.

Recent graduate Jason Ford (2021) was just hired as the founding Kikuchi Archivist at Kaua’i Community College’s (KCC) Kikuchi Center. The Kikuchi collection is a multimedia collection of items either created or collected by Dr. William “Pila” Kikuchi, who taught archaeology and anthropology at KCC.

The collection contains Native Hawaiian archaeology items from Dr. Kikuchi’s research across the island chain. Items include artifacts and other ecofacts that demonstrate cultural significance, along with Dr. Kikuchi’s original documentation of the projects. As the founding Kikuchi Archivist, Jason hopes to acquire other significant archaeology collections from Kaua’i and Hawai’i. To make this possible, he will be designing a new facility that includes archival storage, a work space, and a public reading room with a reference section. He will be busy as the Kikuchi collection is entirely unprocessed.

Ford’s undergraduate studies were centered around ethnobiology, Indigenous research methodologies, and Hawaiian language. After two years working in archaeology as a cultural researcher and Hawaiian language translator at Cultural Surveys Hawaii, he entered the LIS Program. Now, he “basically gets the best of both the archival and library worlds.” Ford advises new students to “be open minded about the ways LIS skills are applied in different sectors to enhance your foundations, experience, and the unique opportunities available to you.”

The LIS Program is pleased to announce that Lori Misaka is the Fall 2022 recipient of the Robert and Rita Blair Memorial Award. This coveted award is presented to graduating students who show special promise in providing library services to children and youth. The LIS faculty select awardees based on high academic standing and strong evidence of professional leadership.

Lori is finishing her Master of Library and Information Science (MLISc) degree this December but already is putting her passion for youth library services to practice at the Waipahu Intermediate School library. She came to the LIS Program with a strong educational background and dedicated teacher for the English Learner program at Waipahu High School. While in the LIS Program she completed an internship at the ‘Aiea Public Library and served on the Hawai‘i State Department of Education Multilingualism Policy Advisory Committee. She has also been an active member in the ALA Hawai‘i Student Chapter, Asian Pacific American Librarians Association, and the Hawai‘i Association of School Librarians. With a team of LIS students and HASL, Lori co-organized a National Library Week event that raised over $5K to support school librarianship. 

In awarding Lori, the faculty expressed that she is a positive team player who is grounded in local and international ways of thinking, and is always looking for ways that libraries can adapt to meet the needs of her community.