University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

Library and Information Science Program

Author: coordinator

  • Emerging Library Leaders Imada and Nagasako Receive First Nicolich Award

    Emerging Library Leaders Imada and Nagasako Receive First Nicolich Award

    Graduating UHM LIS Program students Brianne Imada and Martina Nagasako are the first recipients of the Lillian Nicolich Memorial Award. The award is presented to a graduating student who lifts others up and can demonstrate “supporting the larger community,” and “problem solving for others.” 

    Brianne Imada researched how libraries are developing a “Trauma-Informed” practice that builds on her previous degree in Social Work. She recently gave a presentation on how she developed that project as a way of encouraging other students to create their own meaningful research.  She also volunteered to help a book drive for women inmates and helped Chaminade library expand their resources for mental health for students. She’s also helped other students to enjoy life beyond campus and has been a mentor and friend to many. 

    Martina Nagasako is both a graduating student and the School Library Media Specialist at Lāhainā Intermediate. There, she’s been a strong force to help students cope with life after the Maui fires and imagine new paths.  One student praised Martina for a book subscription program she started after the fires. Students received a personalized box of books from the library along with other fun goodies to “promote a joyful experience and resilience in a difficult time.” A fellow student noted how “This project epitomizes the spirit of this award as it was a creative use of resources, demonstrated empathy for students’ wellbeing, and promoted lifelong learning through a connection with literacy.” She’s also been involved with the Hawai’i Association of School Librarians.

    The award was just launched this year by alumni who remember the late Lillian Nicolich (NICK-oh-lich) who graduated from the LIS Program in 2006, and passed away in 2024. Lillian was a friend, problemsolver, and adventurer who volunteered to help the Program as it coped with the 2004 Hamilton Library flood. You can learn more about Lillian and the award criteria at https://www.hawaii.edu/lis/introducing-the-lillian-nicolich-memorial-award/

    Award candidates were selected from the semester’s graduating MLISc cohort by an award committee appointed by the LIS Program Director. The committee collected nominations from LIS students, faculty, and the professional community. Nominations highlighted how Imada and Nagasako positively impacted the LIS program and community, demonstrated empathy for the wellbeing of others, exhibited collaborative problem solving to address challenging needs and situations, and promoted lifelong learning. 

    To make a donation, click on the link below, that will take you to the giving page that preselects the Lillian Nicolich Memorial Fund:

    https://give.uhfoundation.org/campaigns/63435/donations/new?designation_id=13077504

    You can also send a check to University of Hawaiʻi Foundation, P.O. Box 11270, Honolulu, HI 96828-0270, ATTN: Gift Processing/Eriza Bareng. Please include “Lillian Nicolich Memorial Fund” on the memo section of your check. Mahalo!The LIS Program has over 70 graduate students who are studying to be librarians and archivists. The Program is #36 on the US News & World Report list of “Best Library and Information Science Programs.”

  • The Loy McCandless Marks Botanical Library – National Tropical Botanical Garden

    Location: 3530 Papalina Rd. Kalāheo, HI 96741

    Website: https://ntbg.org/science/collections/library/

    Internship Description

    The intern provides a support role for curatorial duties including preservation, collection management, programming, reference, and curation. This including sorting of physical materials in shelving and storage, digitization of NTBG archival documents, applying integrated preservation techniques, assisting with public-facing events, and fulfilling reference requests. Students with cataloging experience and/or LIS 605 pre/co-requisite will work directly in NTBG’s LibraryWorld database, and may assist with a forthcoming bibliographic system migration (dependent upon experience level).

    Library/Collection Description

    The National Tropical Botanical Garden’s library and rare book room hold over 20,000 items, including books, journals, botanical prints, archival materials, and thousands of original artworks, plates, and photographs. As a special, non-lending library, emphasis is on systematic botany, ethnobotany, horticulture, conservation, and ethnographic works related to Pacific islands from the 16th century onward. Rare volumes include herbals, botanical histories, voyage accounts, floras, and monographs. NTBG also regularly publishes scientific papers and books. Adjacent to the library, the herbarium houses nearly 100,000 dried plant specimens. Together, the collections provide a foundation for NTBG’s critical scientific and biocultural conservation work, supporting plant identification, research, and historical reference.

    Required Pre-requisite Courses

    • LIS 601: Introduction to Reference and Information Services.
    • Optional pre- or co-requisite to be eligible for cataloging duties: LIS 605: Metadata Creation for Information Organizations OR similar work experience.

    Desired Qualifications

    Current MLIS degree seeking student at UH Mānoa; The ideal candidate will have a general knowledge of and/or demonstrated interest in learning about Hawaiian flora and plant conservation.

    Weekly Schedule

    • Single-semester option: Two days per week (five hours / day) to be coordinated with supervisor.
    • Two-semester option: One day per week (five hours / day) OR two days per week (2.5 hours / day) to be coordinated with supervisor.
    • In addition, a single programming event during the term may require a time outside of the normally scheduled hours.

    Goals and Outcomes

    • Sorting and spine labelling of physical materials in shelving and storage; Digitization of NTBG archival documents; Fufillment of a handful of reference requests; Collections management including assisting with a handful of acqusitions and some duplicate identification/removal; Preservation including spot treatment and pest prevention/monitoring; Assisting with the planning and execution of a (1) public facing programming event.
    • Qualified students only: creating / curating catalog records in NTBG’s LibraryWorld database; assisting Library, Herbarium, Plant Records and IT staff with bibliographic system migration.

    Evaluation Methods

    A midway and final progress summary will be required prior to each supervisory review. The reviews will evaluate proficiency demonstrated in each of the following five (six) categories midway through, and again at the completion of the internship: preservation, collection management, programming, reference, curation, and cataloging (if applicable).

    Evaluation Schedule

    Single-semester option: Midway evaluation: October 1st; Final evaluation: November 15th
    Two-semester option: Midway evaluation: November 15th; Final evaluation: April 15th

    Contact Information

    Kevin Houck – Supervisor

    E-mail: plantrecords@ntbg.org

    Telephone: (808) 762-1437

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  • Welcoming Dr. Alexandria “Alli” Rayburn to the LIS Faculty This Semester!

    Welcoming Dr. Alexandria “Alli” Rayburn to the LIS Faculty This Semester!

    The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library and Information Science Program is delighted to welcome its newest faculty member, Dr. Alexandria “Alli” Rayburn. Dr. Rayburn joins the program following the completion of her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan School of Information, where her dissertation, Women in Museum Computing: Implementing Transformative Data Practices in Collection Work, explored the intersections of technology, gender, and cultural heritage.

    Her teaching will center on archival studies, with additional interests in knowledge organization. This fall, she will lead LIS 655: Digital Archives, followed in Spring 2026 by LIS 654: Records, Archives, and Memory and LIS 657: Records Management.

    Dr. Rayburn’s academic work is deeply informed by her personal passions, including textile arts and women’s crafts. She is especially interested in how these often underrepresented art forms can be integrated into archival systems and digital preservation practices.

    When asked what excites her most about joining the UHM LIS  ʻohana, she shared two reflections. First, she is thrilled to return to the close-knit learning environment she experienced as an undergraduate in a small residential college at Michigan State University, where she found inspiration in the liberal arts model within a large university setting. “Working with small groups of students who are truly engaged with their studies is something I deeply value,” she noted. Second, she looks forward to building relationships with professionals in Hawaiʻi’s museums and archival communities. “It’s exciting to immerse myself in a new cultural context and collaborate with those stewarding collections I have so much to learn about.”

    Outside of her scholarship, Dr. Rayburn is an avid quilter and textile artist. She also enjoys hiking, camping, kayaking, paddleboarding, and recently earned her scuba certification. While she’s experienced many of these activities in the Midwest, she’s enthusiastic about exploring them in the unique landscapes of Hawaiʻi and connecting with the ʻāina.

  • Cataloging (Digital Collections), Hamilton Library

    Location: 2550 McCarthy Mall, Honolulu, HI 96822

    Internship Description

    In this internship we will focus on remediation of the metadata for different digital collections in Hamilton library. By following the best practices in description of digital objects, we will establish the schema to follow for the re-description tasks and work with exports of collections in OpenRefine and Omeka S software, and use AI to help us with these tasks.

    Library/Collection Description

    Hamilton Library hosts multiple digital collections in two different repositories.
    DSpace hosts SholarSpace- institutional repository collections, and EVols – various collections including digitized textual material. Omeka Classic is hosting digitized image collections. The metadata for these collection is based on Dublin Core schema, but was ingested with no clear guidelines nor quality control which resulted in overly heterogeneous representation.

    Required Qualifications

    Ideally, students have taken one or more of these courses: LIS 605 Metadata Creation; LIS 672 Tech for Lib & Info Centers; LIS 693-2 Academic Lib & Scholarly Pub; LIS 655 Digital Archives

    Desired Qualifications

    Information literate, comfortable with computer work and technologically inclined.

    Weekly Schedule

    M/W/F 9-5; upon agreement. Teleworking is possible upon initial training (at least 2 months).

    Goals and Outcomes

    • Learning outcome #1- Getting familiar with Dublin Core and other metadata schemas for digital objects, as well as metadata interoperability principles
    • Learning outcome #2- Getting familiar with working with metadata in a tabular format and in Digital Library Management Systems
    • Learning outcome #3- Getting familiar with digitization processes in cultural heritage sector (from digitizing to long term preservation
    • Learning outcome #4- Developing technological skills and knowledge that student will be able to apply in their future work independently

    Evaluation Methods

    Each month we will track the progress for the 4 learning outcomes on a scale:

    • understanding concepts
    • applying methods
    • somewhat comfortable in independently applying methods
    • proficient and ready for independent work

    Evaluation Schedule

    Monthly

    Contact Information

    Stanislava Gardasevic – Supervisor

    E-mail: gardasev@hawaii.edu

    Telephone: (808) 956-0757

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  • Kylie Flood Named HSPLS Employee of the Year

    Kylie Flood Named HSPLS Employee of the Year

    Photo: Kylie Flood with Hawaiʻi State Librarian Stacey Aldrich and Governor Josh Green. Photo courtesy of Gov.Flickr.

    Kylie Kaʻeo Flood was honored as the Employee of the Year for the Hawaiʻi State Public Library System (HSPLS) at the Governor’s Award Ceremony on September 24, 2024. Kylie is the Hawaiian/ Pacific and Adult Librarian at the Nānākuli Public Library. She is a 2016 alumna of the UHM LIS Program. This annual award spotlights individuals “who embody the spirit of service and commitment that make public libraries vital to the community.”  Kylie says that the award also recognizes the value of having a “wonderful team” at Nānākuli. She is grateful for head librarian Kelsey Domingo‘s supportive leadership as well as the entire staff’s collaborative approach to programs and services.

    It was always Kylie’s dream to work in her community of Nānākuli. While still a student in LIS, she and her colleague Michiko Joseph, a librarian at UH West Oʻahu, envisioned a genealogy project that would meet the needs of the Nānākuli Hawaiian Homestead community. Kylie indicated that this community represents the densest Native Hawaiian population in the state. 

    When Kylie officially joined the library staff six years ago, the genealogy program became a reality. She said, “Knowing where you come from is a very important part of Hawaiian culture.” 

    Since 2018, Kylie has facilitated a series of workshops and meetings that deal with family research and genealogy. With support from UH West Oʻahu, the initiative invites a range of professionals to share their skills and knowledge with the Native Hawaiian community. According to Kylie, guests have included university students studying the land deed issues as well as historians, archivists, and cultural experts from Alu Like, Bishop Museum, and the Hawaiʻi State Archives. During the pandemic, the in-person presentations became virtual sessions hosted on the HSPLS YouTube channel. This dramatically widened the program’s outreach to individuals across the state. 

    Kylie’s future plans include sponsoring webinars that feature Darcie Hind Posz, a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists. Posz has published a volume entitled Research in Hawaii that focuses on ​resources available in-person ​and online for those whose ​ancestral families resided in ​Hawai‘i from Kingdom to ​Territory to Statehood.

  • LIS Celebrates Archives Month

    LIS Celebrates Archives Month

    LIS Students and Adjunct Faculty Celebrated Archives month in 2024 with a number of activities. The SAA Student Chapter enjoyed a talk by Gina S. Vergara-Bautista and tour of the State Records Center, which is the State Archives’ center for active records.  LIS Student Ani Kawada gave a talk at an online “AHA archives chat” recapping her poster session at the recent annual conference of the Society of American Archivists. LIS Adjunct Dawn Sueoka and CIS PhD student (and outgoing SAA President) Helen Wong Smith also gave an overview of their papers and reflection on the experience. Helen encouraged students to attend next year’s conference in Anaheim. In other events, LIS adjunct professor and State Archivist Dr. Adam Jansen led an event this past Sunday on the history of the ukulele. LIS Adjunct Professor Janel Quirante as part of ‘Ulu‘ulu work presented an archival film screening at the Hawai‘i International Film Festival.  There are more activities happening in the state at the AHA page.

    Screenshot

  • HLA Offers Poster Session Workshop to LIS Students

    HLA Offers Poster Session Workshop to LIS Students

    The Hawaiʻi Library Association is hosting a Poster Session Workshop, taught by BYUH Librarian and LIS alumnus Stephanie Robertson, for LIS students on Tuesday, September 24th from 4:00-5:00 on Zoom. Students will learn how to create a poster for presentation at a conference. LIS students interested in learning more about poster creation and presentations can register online for the workshop at go.hawaii.edu/ac2.

     

  • Health Sciences Library, John A. Burns School of Medicine ▶️

    Location: 651 Ilalo St., Honolulu, HI, 96813

    Website

    Internship Description

    The Health Sciences Library offers a wide variety of options for selected interns. While we have minimal face-to-face reference, we include interns in every aspect of the work we do. The director has extensive experience in collection development, copyright, and resource licensing and the technical services librarian has significant knowledge of cataloging and web management. Interns will work with the public service librarian on various systematic review and instruction-related activities. We always have many projects to participate in from digitization to data management, utilizing ScholarSpace and Evols.

    Library/Collection Description

    The Health Sciences Library serves the students, faculty, researchers and staff of the John A. Burns School of Medicine and the Cancer Research Center of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. The library has a small print collection with most journal runs starting from 1980, popular medical textbooks and monographs. Most of the collection is available online, including medical texts and journals.

    Required Qualifications

    Successful completion of LIS 601 Introduction to Reference & Information Services.

    Desired Qualifications

    • An interest in multiple aspects of librarianship
    • A desire to learn more about health sciences librarianship
    • The ability to think outside the box

    Weekly Schedule

    The Health Sciences Library is open Monday through Friday, 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. We are not open on weekends. We happily accommodate any proposed schedule during those work hours.

    Goals and Outcomes

    We aim to give prospective interns a wide range of opportunities. We expect our interns to participate in whatever we are doing with the expectation that they gain experience in work they wouldn’t get in school and help them find a focus on what aspects of librarianship interest them the most.

    Evaluation Methods

    We utilize the Basecamp interface to track daily work, communicate on projects, and link important documents. All the librarians interacting with the interns will be included in discussions with the interns throughout the semester and when the internship evaluations are due.

    Evaluation Schedule

    Throughout the semester.

    Contact Information

    Kristen Anderson – Supervisor

    E-mail: krisa@hawaii.edu

    Telephone: (808) 692-0823

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  • Jonathan Young and Morgan Lammert to Present at LIS Research Forum September 5, 2024

    Jonathan Young and Morgan Lammert to Present at LIS Research Forum September 5, 2024

    The LIS Program is hosting our next LIS Research Forum on Thursday, September 5 at 11:30-12:30 in the LIS Program Area, Hamilton room 003F and on Zoom. We welcome UHM Natural Sciences Librarian Jonathan Young and current LIS student Morgan Lammert as they present “AI Text Analysis at Hamilton Science and Technology Reference : Transforming Approaches to Library Assessment Using Generative AI”.

    Presentation Description:

    Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has garnered interest in its ability to create fluent language. However, less well appreciated is its remarkable ability to read and analyze text. AI offers the opportunity to perform many tasks involving text analysis, including many library assessment tasks that would otherwise be impractical, if not impossible, due to the volume and magnitude of the text information involved. Traditionally, analytics and evidence in libraries have focused on counting aggregate, measurable items. This ranges from usage statistics, instructional sessions count, catalog records, or other methods of bibliometrics. Generative AI offers the librarian a novel ability to go beyond these metrics and engage with the meaning of text data at scale and for reasonable cost.

    This talk describes how librarians at the UHM Science and Technology Reference Department are exploring automated and semi-automated AI methods to empower analysis in areas such as reference and collection development. These distinct projects suggest how librarians can usefully apply generative AI methods, overcoming limitations such as bias and hallucinations, and imagine a new assessment paradigm centered around extensive text analysis.

    Presenter Bios:

    Jonathan Young is the Natural Sciences Librarian at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He obtained an MS in Computation and Neural Systems from the California Institute of Technology, and an MLIS and PhD in Communication and Information Sciences from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. His research interests include open science, bibliometrics, interdisciplinarity, and AI.

    Morgan Lammert is in the final semester of her master’s degree in Library and Information Science at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She obtained a B.S. in Chemistry from Pepperdine University and strives to combine her background in science with librarianship. As the LIS intern at Hamilton Library’s Science and Technology Reference Department, she has enjoyed experimenting with generative AI and its potential applications in libraries. She looks forward to a future career in which she can continue to explore technological innovations in libraries.

     

    Please contact the LIS Program office at lisinfo@hawaii.edu for the Zoom meeting link.

  • LIS Alumna Susan Kazama Leads Hawaiʻi Community College

    LIS Alumna Susan Kazama Leads Hawaiʻi Community College

    Susan Murata Kazama, a 1986 graduate of the LIS Program, has been appointed as the interim chancellor at Hawai‘i Community College. She brings with her an amazing wealth of experiences that spans more than 35 years in higher education at five UH campuses. Among her achievements, Kazama served as interim vice chancellor of academic affairs at Kapiʻolani CC and Honolulu CC. In addition, she served as a program coordinator for continuing education at Kapiʻolani CC.

    Born and raised in Hilo, Kazama attended UH Mānoa where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology before  pursuing a master’s degree in library studies. She began her career as a librarian at Maui CC, Honolulu CC, and UH Mānoa’s Hamilton Library before assuming the library directorship at Kapiʻolani CC.  Kazama said that her experiences as a librarian contributed to her leadership skills that included fiscal management, organizational planning, and collaborative team building expertise. According to Kazama, working in libraries helped her to develop a solution-driven mindset.

    As the newly appointed leader of Hawaiʻi CC, Kazama has a dynamic vision for the institution. Her priorities range from improving student success and workforce development to expanding initiatives dealing with sustainability and strengthening campus safety. Of critical importance to Kazama is incorporating Native Hawaiian values in the curriculum. Toward this end, she has immersed herself in learning the protocols, leadership strategies, history and ʻōlelo through the campus I Ola Hāloa Center for Hawaiʻi Lifestyles.

    Kazama plans to leverage and strengthen various initiatives that are unique to her campus. This includes a hula certificate, agroforestry management, and apprenticeships and non-credit programs offered in collaboration with different community organizations. With an eye on preparing students to live and work on the Big Island, Kazama’s plans focus on more career technical pathways for high school students who wish to earn college credential before graduating from high school.

    Source for this information:
    University of Hawai‘i News (July 23, 2024)
    Article: Susan Kazama Returns Home to Lead Hawai‘i CC
    Author: Katie Young Yamanaka
    https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2024/07/23/kazama-returns-home-to-lead-hawaii-cc/

  • Dr. S. Kauwela Valeho-Novikoff Graduates from the CIS Doctoral Program

    Dr. S. Kauwela Valeho-Novikoff Graduates from the CIS Doctoral Program

    The LIS Program is pleased to announce the graduation of Dr. Shanye Kauwela Valeho-Novikoff. She completed her CIS dissertation “Aloha ʻĀina in the Library and Information Science Program: Understanding and Being a Hawaiian Place of Learning.” This is the first dissertation to focus on the intersection of librarianship and Hawaiian values, and should help guide the LIS Program as we move forward on this important project of continuing to develop as a Native Hawaiian place of learning. “Auntie Shanye” was the founding advisor of Nā Hawaiʻi ʻImi Loa. She currently is the Learning and Innovations Officer at Kamehameha Schools Maui campus. Before that she was Head Librarian at the Midkiff Learning Center at the KS Kapālama campus and prior to that was Director of the Lono me Laka Resource Center at UHM’s Hawaiʻinuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge.  

     

    Hauʻoli ka Hui LIS e kūkala i ka puka ʻana o Kauka Shanye Kauwela Valeho-Novikoff. Ua paʻa kāna pepa laeʻula iā ia i  kapa ʻia ʻo “Aloha ʻĀina in the Library and Information Science Program: Understanding and Being a Hawaiian Place of Learning.” ʻO kēia ka pepa laeʻula mua  loa e kia ana i ka pilina ma waena o nā mea mālama waihona puke a me nā kuleana ʻike Hawaiʻi, a e kōkua ana ia i ka papahana LIS  i kō kākou holemua ʻana  e lilo i wahi kahua kula naʻauao o Hawaiʻi. ʻO ʻĀnake Shayne ka mea kauleo mua loa no Nā Hawaiʻi ʻImi Loa. Ma kēia wā, ʻo ia nō ka Luna no ke Aʻo ʻana a  me ka Hoʻokumu ʻana ma ke Kula o Kamehameha ma Maui; i ka wā ma mua, ʻo ia ka Luna Waihona Puke ma ka Hale Aʻo o Midkiff ma ke Kula o Kamehameha ma Kapālama, a i ka wā ma mua o ia, ʻo ia ka Luna ma ka Waihona Puke o Lono me Laka ma ke Kula ʻIke Hawaiʻi o Hawaiʻinuiākea.  

  • LIS Alum Shavonn Matsuda Named a 2023 Library Journal Mover & Shaker

    LIS Alum Shavonn Matsuda Named a 2023 Library Journal Mover & Shaker

    Current University of Hawaiʻi Maui College head librarian and LIS alumnus Shavonn Matsuda was recently featured in Library Journal as a 2023 Mover & Shaker for her work with Hawaiian knowledge organization. Shavonn is the project director for Ka Wai Hāpai, which is an IMLS-supported project to create a Hawaiian knowledge organization system and controlled vocabularies for Indigenous Hawaiian collections and materials. Ka Wai Hāpai team members also include current LIS Faculty member Keahiahi Long and current LIS student Kyle Hart.

    Read the full Library Journal article and more about the Ka Wai Hāpai project.

     

     

    Photo courtesy of Library Journal.

  • Brendan Urayanza, Kelly McDermott, and Dr. MB Ogawa Present “From Student to Scholar: Our Journey to Publishing Our Research Via LIS 699

    Brendan Urayanza, Kelly McDermott, and Dr. MB Ogawa Present “From Student to Scholar: Our Journey to Publishing Our Research Via LIS 699

    The LIS Program is hosting our next LIS Research Forum on Thursday, April 4 at 3:45-4:45 in the LIS Program Area, Hamilton room 003F and on Zoom. We welcome Kelly McDermott, Kalihi-Palama Public Library Children’s Librarian, current LIS student Brendan Urayanza, and Dr. MB Ogawa, Information and Computer Sciences and Assessment and Curriculum Support Center Specialist, as they present “From Student to Scholar: Our Journey to Publishing Our Research Via LIS 699”. 

    Presentation Description:

    For graduate students, finding opportunities to complete a research project before graduation can be a challenge as they often need to juggle time for coursework, work commitments, and building connections with professionals in their field. In this way, directed studies courses under the guidance of an advisor can provide a way for students to learn about the research to publication process in a flexible manner that can be tailored to their research interests. In our talk, we will share our studies, challenges and accomplishments, presenting and publishing research in the Library and Information Science field through directed studies courses. We will also discuss our efforts in collaborating with other students in conducting their research projects and how we support each other’s studies. We will also touch on our experiences collecting and analyzing data, whether this be through drafting surveys, conducting interviews, obtaining new and pre-existing data, and coding the data to reveal common threads. All in all, we will be discussing how to get involved directed studies, as having a strong plan can support your development as a scholar and create tangible outcomes for your resume.

    Presenter Bios:

    Kelly McDermott is currently serving as the children’s librarian at the Kalihi-Palama Public Library. She completed her master’s education in Library and Information Science and English at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.  

    Brendan Urayanza is currently completing his master’s degree in Library and Information Science at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa with a focus in academic librarianship. He is also serving as an intern at UH Mānoa’s Hamilton Library in the Public Services division. He is also interested in technology, as he served as a teaching assistant for Information and Computer Sciences 101, educating hundreds of students.

    Dr. MB Ogawa is a Specialist in Information and Computer Sciences and the Assessment and Curriculum Support Center. He mentored students from a range of disciplines including Information and Computer Science, Library and Information Science, Communication and Information Sciences, Education, and Learning Design and Technology.

  • SCI Inaugural Open House

    SCI Inaugural Open House

    LIS Students, Faculty, Alumni and other stakeholders are invited to attend the SCI Inaugural Open House

    In order to help our community to get to know our new school, SCI Chair Hye-Ryeon Lee is inviting LIS students, alumni, and other stakeholders to come to our first open house. It will be a chance to get to know the other parts of our new School of Communications and Information. The event will take place on Friday 5 April 2024 from 4:00-7:30. The full schedule is listed online at the SCI Open House website, where you can register for the event. The final part of the evening will be a networking reception. 

    LIS Faculty presenting will include Meera Garud, who will introduce information literacy in a fun way from 4:30-4:50 PM at George Hall 214. Dr. Wertheimer will also be giving a short overview of the LIS Program at this same mini-talk. Our own Keahiahi Long will help start things off in a pono way by giving an Oli. We will also be presenting SCI Alumni Awards. The provost and dean will also be greeting our alumni community. In addition to checking out what’s happening in the LIS Program, we encourage you to get to know our partners in Communications, Communicology, Journalism, and the Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Education.We look forward to seeing you there. 

  • UHM LIS Program Receives Full Accreditation from the American Library Association

    UHM LIS Program Receives Full Accreditation from the American Library Association

    The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library and Information Science (LIS) Program received full continued accreditation from the American Library Association (ALA) for the maximum seven years. It’s the only accredited professional school for librarians and archivists in the state. This is the Program’s first accreditation since it merged into the new School of Communication and Information.

    Dr. Rich Gazan, who has served two three-year terms as Program Director since 2015, shared that “We’re one of the smallest accredited programs, and one of our strengths is pilina—the relationships among students, staff, faculty and the professional community.” On behalf of the faculty, he expressed that, “We are very grateful that our community helped us tell our story, and demonstrated to the review team how we address the accreditation standards in our own unique ways.”

    The program was first accredited by ALA in 1967 and has maintained accreditation since then, most recently in 2016. ALA accreditation is especially important for LIS programs since most libraries and archives only hire graduates of ALA-accredited programs for professional positions. There are currently 64 accredited LIS programs in North America.

    The re-accreditation process began with LIS faculty writing a 178-page Self-Study addressing five standards: Systemic Planning, Curriculum, Faculty, Students, and Administration, Finances, and Resources, and submitting it to the ALA Committee on Accreditation (COA) in August 2023.

    An External Review Panel, made up of five library professionals from across the United States and Canada, visited the LIS Program in October 2023. The team reviewed internal documents, such as the strategic plan, mission statement, meeting minutes, and examples of student work. They also observed classes and interviewed faculty, staff, alumni, current students, community librarians, and UHM administration.

    The visiting panel reported that “during the site visit, students and alumni were unanimous in their praise of the program’s administrative policies and the consistent and steady support they received from beginning their applications to program completion.” The ERP’s final report and LIS Self-Study were reviewed by the ALA Committee on Accreditation before making their final decision.

    In 2022 LIS merged with Communications, Communicology, Journalism, and the Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution to form the School of Communication and Information (SCI). SCI Chair Dr. Hye-ryeon Lee expressed that LIS is an integral part of our new school, and that “we continue to look for ways to integrate teaching and research about the information and communication fields in order to best serve the people of Hawaiʻi and, we look forward to sharing the vision of the new school with the community in the inaugural Open House for the school scheduled for April 5, 2024.”

    UH Mānoa Provost Michael S. Bruno congratulated the Program on the accreditation, especially in light of the successful transition into the new School of Communication and Information. He added that “Full accreditation is a reflection of the quality of the program and the dedication of the faculty to our students and our community.”

  • LIS Archival Studies Students and Faculty Participate in InterPARES AI Trust Conference

    LIS Archival Studies Students and Faculty Participate in InterPARES AI Trust Conference

    LIS Adjunct Professor Dr. Adam Jansen, our State Archivist, organized a fascinating international conference on AI and digital archives in February 2024. Our SAA-SC was a co-sponsor. The photo shows SAAsc board members Morgan Schmidt, Jasmine Malone, Kelli Wong, and Ani Kawada volunteering at the event. LIS Student Kevin Houck represented ARMA Hawai‘i, which was another co-sponsor. Archival faculty Stanislava Gardasevic, Janel Quirante, Jill Sommer, and Andrew Wertheimer and other students and recent graduates enjoyed catching up to speed with InterPARES Trust AI efforts to help archival repositories to create best practices around using AI. Many of the same students and faculty also participated the following day at AHA‘s annual meeting program where we learned about AHA efforts to assist archives and cultural sites that struggled with the Maui fire.

    InterPARES videos:

    • Part 1 https://www.facebook.com/HawaiiStateArchives/videos/363631383123277/
    • Part 2 https://www.facebook.com/HawaiiStateArchives/videos/328439670196261/
  • Jonathan Young and Sarah Nakashima Present “Developing Library Instruction: Learning as We Go”

    Jonathan Young and Sarah Nakashima Present “Developing Library Instruction: Learning as We Go”

    The LIS Research Forum continues with a presentation by Jonathan Young, a Hamilton Library Natural Science Librarian, and Sarah Nakashima, a Hamilton Library Humanities Librarian, titled “Developing Library Instruction: Learning as We Go”. Hamilton Library traditionally offers library instruction in one-shot format. Which is to say, classes may request library instruction in support of specific research assignments. While this is one way to offer library support to students, it leaves the majority of the student population most likely never to experience library instruction. We seek to offer a multi-disciplinary support for Graduate students, meeting them at their information needs. We will share our experience over the past couple of years offering a series of workshops aimed at graduate students’ research work and the varying strategies and environments we have tried, and we will share the results of those variances and what we learned through each iteration. The presentation will be held on Monday, February 12, from 2:00-3:00 pm in the LIS Program Area, Hamilton Basement, Room 003F, and also on Zoom. The Zoom meeting information and more information about the event can be found on the event flyer.

  • Maui College Library, University of Hawaiʻi

    Location: 310 W. Kaahumanu Ave., Kahului, HI, 96732

    Website

    Internship Description

    Duties and projects include reference and circulation desks, technical services, student instruction and library tours, and any tasks or projects that are appropriate to the library’s needs and the intern’s level of expertise.

    Library/Collection Description

    University of Hawaiʻi Maui College Library’s mission is to provide resources and services to stimulate intellectual curiosity and to facilitate learning and research within the academic community. We are a proactive organization that addresses issues, anticipates trends, and sets its agenda with the needs of the current and future college community in mind.

    Required Qualifications

    • LIS 601 Introduction to Reference & Information Services

    Desired Qualifications

    • Familiarity with basic library procedures and the MCC library reference resources

    Weekly Schedule

    Will be scheduled in minimum 1-hour segments, between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. May be modified to include Saturdays after intern is familiar with operations.

    Goals and Outcomes

    Gain experience in tasks and projects, familiarity with Maui College Library’s reference resources, experience working with library personnel and users, and experience in technical services.

    Evaluation Methods

    Intern will be evaluated on reliability, evidence of increasing competence in library duties, ability to interpret and follow through on instructions and assignments, and evidence of interest level. Format will be reports to and discussion with supervising librarian.

    Evaluation Schedule

    Evaluation will be done mid-course and at completion of internship.

    Contact Information

    Shavonn Matsuda – Supervisor

    E-mail: shavonn@hawaii.edu

    Telephone: (808) 984-3584

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  • LIS Student Jones and Alumna Kakimoto Take Lead in Celebrating Love My Library Day

    LIS Student Brooke Jones and alumna Krystal Kakimoto co-chaired Hawaiʻi’s first-ever “Love My Library Day” on Saturday. They were joined by LIS students Rachel Jacobson, Brianne Imada, Serina Kerbaugh, and Jade Sunouchi. Faculty at the event included Meera Garud (who co-chairs HLA’s Advocacy Committee) and Professors Asato and Wertheimer, along with several adjunct faculty members. We were also joined by dozens of LIS alumni and families who took part in a costume contest and book trivia competition.

    Jones explained “One of our goals is to build community support and awareness of libraries and ‘Love My Library Day’ was a fun way to do that. My favorite sign at the event was ‘Libraries love you back’: I think that means to please support your library because guess what? Your library loves and supports you. It’s so important that we build this base as we advocate for adequate funding and our freedom to read and access information.”

    Garud said “It was delightful to see families come out to celebrate reading, learning, and exploring. It was refreshing to see so many early morning drivers honk to say they love libraries–moped drivers, families, and tour bus drivers. I can’t wait to do this again.” Her interview with Hawaiʻi News Now was featured in that evening’s newscast.

    The HLA Advocacy Committee is moving forward this year with a goal of increasing the number of licensed school librarians in our public schools.

    Eliana Jacobson, age six, was one of many children in attendance at the event. She said, “I love my library ‘cause you can always read books and stuff. I like to volunteer at the Kahuku Library with my mom because the librarian gives me jobs to do.”

    Also in attendance were State Representative Jenna Takenouchi, State Librarian Stacy Aldrich, Friends of the Library of Hawaiʻi Director Nainoa Mau and the presidents of HLA and HASL.

    The event took place at Ala Moana Beach Park on Sat 5 Aug. 2023 from 10am until noon and included some activities for keiki and sign waving. A number of drivers enjoyed honking for libraries as they drove past, often showing a shaka.

    The event was co-sponsored by the Hawaiʻi Library Association and the Hawaiʻi Association of School Librarians. Donors to the raffle included Zippy’s, Uncle Clay’s House of Pure Aloha, da Shop, Honolulu Theatre for Youth, Dave & Buster’s Honolulu.

    If you’re interested in joining the HLA Advocacy Committee, email hla.advocacycommittee@gmail.com. You can check out more of the Advocacy Committee’s recent efforts at https://www.hawaiilibraryassociation.org/legislation.html.

  • Jason Ford Featured in UH Foundations Magazine

    LIS Program alumnus Jason Ford’s work at the Kauaʻi Community College’s Kikuchi Center is featured in this summer’s UH Foundations Magazine. William Kenji “Pila” Kikuchi was a Hawaiʻi archeologist and anthropologist who left a wealth of knowledge to Kauaʻi Community College, with the intent of his and other’s work being preserved and available to the public. The archival Kikuchi Center, which opened last year, now houses his life’s work and is being processed by Jason Ford, the curator of the collection.

    To learn more about Jason’s work and how to access the collection, view the full story on the UHF Publications website.

  • Wertheimer Honored by Library Historians

    Our very own Associate Professor Andrew Wertheimer was recognized by the American Library Association (ALA) Library History Round Table (LHRT) as the inaugural winner of their Distinguished Service in Library History Award. For the past three decades Wertheimer has tried to advance research that explore transnational aspects of Asian American library history and build bridges with scholars and practitioners in the Asia-Pacific region. He also served as Chair of the LHRT and served on the editorial boards of LHRT’s Libraries: Culture, History, and Society, as well as Library History and Library Quarterly. Wertheimer co-edited Library History Research in America 25 years ago at the LHRT’s semi-centennial. He is currently involved in an oral history project on North American library historians. The Distinguished Service in Library History Award honors the career of a person with a lifetime of scholarship and service in the field of library history. The award recipient will have a record of contributions that demonstrate length, breadth, and depth of involvement in library history. The recipient will have made a significant impact on the work of the Round Table or on the library history community at large.

    Link
    https://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2023/07/library-history-round-table-lhrt-american-library-association-announces-dr

  • LIS 659 Students Process JCCH Papers

    Jill Sommer’s students in LIS 659: Archival Access, Representation and Use processed papers from the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i’s Archives. The class is shown with JCCH Archives Manager Gail Kuroda and Adjunct faculty Jill Sommer after making their final presentations. Students made recommendations for preservation, privacy protection, and how these collections could be used for research and outreach. The students drafted finding aids that eventually can be accessed using JCCH’s online catalog. The class presentations clearly demonstrated how important it is to have trained archivists with diverse local knowledge. In the photo: Gail Kuroda is directly behind the cart. From left to right behind Gail are Johanna Sadorra, Jasmine Malone, Jennifer Duncklee, Jill Sommer (Instructor), Alohalani Paakaula-Lozier, Hoʻoleina Ioane, and Ani Kawada.

  • Wertheimer Presents at Association for Asian American Studies

    Dr. Wertheimer gave a paper at the Association for Asian American Studies 2023 conference in Long Beach, California. His paper, “The Issei Role in Fostering a Prewar Nisei Leadership: The Fushimi Memorial Scholarship Society in Nikkei Hawaiʻi” explores the prewar Japanese American association that established the Fushimi Memorial Scholarship Society for Nisei to study at UHM, created pioneering Japanese language textbooks. The society also operated a Japanese library at the Library of Hawai’i, which later became the Hawai’i State Library. Wertheimer expressed excitement about attending his first scholarly conference in person since COVID-19, and is looking forward to engaging with other Asian American Studies scholars from across the country.

  • State Archivist and LIS Adjunct Instructor Adam Jansen Repatriating Hawaiʻi Items

    State Archivist and LIS Adjunct Instructor Adam Jansen flew to New York in March to bring back Queen Liliʻuokalani’s Royal Standard, as well as letters and documents related to the overthrow. The items were to be auctioned off but were instead acquired by the State Archives, thanks to $60,000 in donations that enabled the State to purchase the items. The Royal Standard was the queen’s personal flag that was flown over her home in Honolulu on the day she was overthrown. Jansen was quoted as saying, “I will be treating the queen’s personal flag as representing the queen herself. It has mana. The flag is an important piece of the story of Hawaiʻi coming back to the people after more than a century.”

  • Stanislava Gardasevic Presents Research Forum on Community Design of a Knowledge Graph

    The LIS Research Forum continues with a presentation by Stanislava Gardasevic, a Communication & Information Sciences PhD candidate and a LIS Teaching Assistant and Course Instructor titled “Community Design of a Knowledge Graph to Support Interdisciplinary PhD Students”. How do PhD students discover the resources and relationships conducive to satisfaction and success in their degree programs? This study proposes a community-grounded, extensible knowledge graph to make explicit and tacit information intuitively discoverable, by capturing and visualizing relationships between people based on their activities and relations to information resources in a particular domain (i.e. Communication and Information Sciences Interdisciplinary PhD Program). The presentation will include an overview of methods used to collect data and create/populate the knowledge graph, a demonstration of the graph query visualizations, and some of the preliminary findings that show the usefulness of such technology for PhD students. The presentation will be held on Thursday, April 20th, from 4:00-4:45 pm in the LIS Program Area, Hamilton Basement, Room 003F, and also on Zoom. The Zoom link and more information about the event can be found on the event flyer.

  • North Kohala Public Library, Hawaiʻi State Public Library System

    Location: 54-3645 Akoni Pule Hwy., Kapaau, HI 96755

    Website

    Internship Description

    The intern will gain experience in programming for both adults and children, in materials selection, and in weeding the children’s and adult fiction collection.

    Library/Collection Description

    North Kohala Library has a small general public library collection of 20,000 items. 3,000 DVDs account for 25% of the circulation. The balance of the collection consists of popular materials for adults, children, and teens. The library has an archive room with a limited collection of materials related to the history of North Kohala.

    Required Qualifications

    Successful completion of the following courses:

    • LIS 601 Introduction to Reference & Information Services

    Desired Qualifications

    • Enthusiasm, friendliness, steadfastness, precision, and a willingness to learn.

    Weekly Schedule

    The branch can accommodate the intern’s other work and family schedules.

    Goals and Outcomes

    • The intern will have the opportunity to experience the process of planning, organizing, scheduling, publicizing, and presenting library programs.
    • The intern will have the opportunity to select materials within a branch budget from a statewide order list.
    • The intern will work with the youth services librarian and the library assistant in weeding the juvenile collection and the adult fiction collection.
    • The intern will also assist with book processing, shelving, displays, circulation and other day to day tasks.

    Evaluation Methods

    Based on the program requirements, the branch manager will provide guidance and assessment on a regular basis.

    Evaluation Schedule

    Unless otherwise directed, the branch manager will evaluate the intern on a monthly basis as is done with training a new employee.

    Contact Information

    Ashley Spencer – Supervisor

    E-mail: ashley.spencer@librarieshawaii.org

    Telephone: (808) 889-6655

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  • Kawaiahaʻo Church Archives ▶️

    Location: 957 Punchbowl St., Honolulu, HI 96813

    Website

    Internship Description

    The intern will be under direct supervision of the grant coordinator (senior archivist) and MLIS graduated employee who will assign tasks based on the needs of the project of digitization of Kawaiahaʻo Church archives.

    The tasks include archival description, digitization/scanning of the records, metadata for the digital archives, work with the digital archives system (Omeka S), and work with front-end accessibility features of the digital archives.

    This internship is only for the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 semesters.

    Library/Collection Description

    The Kawaiahaʻo Church was established in 1820 and has a rich history and reputation to be one of the most important places of worship, that is the church for the Hawaiian kingdom and royalty. The archival fonds are pertinent to the activities of the church and include sacramental records, financial records, governing boarding records, misc. etc. Much of the documents before 1940s are in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. The archives has received an IMLS grant for the digitization of the archival holdings.

    Required Qualifications

    Students should have taken or are enrolled in one or more of the following courses

    • LIS 641 Digital Librarianship
    • LIS 657 Records Management
    • LIS 659 Archival Access, Representation and Use

    Desired Qualifications

    We welcome any students who can read/write in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi to help us with the description and adequate representation of the Hawaiian cultural heritage.

    Weekly Schedule

    Five days a week for 2h; We are flexible to accommodate the needs of the interns’ schedule.

    Goals and Outcomes

    Upon finishing this internship, the interns will be able to make informed decisions in the cultural heritage digitization projects, following the best-practice trends and standards in the profession, and to independently carry on multiple tasks related to archival material digitization projects.

    Evaluation Methods

    As proposed by the LIS Program, we can conduct evaluation at the mid and end term basis; we will complete the forms during a face-to-face session with the student intern and provide timely feedback if necessary during the course of their internship.

    Also, we will invite intern(s) to evaluate our supervision at the mid and end term basis, to establish the best possible work relation so they can learn things that are of their interest.

    Evaluation Schedule

    Mid-term written evaluation with feedback and end-term oral evaluation discussion when the forms will be filed in.

    Contact Information

    Stanislava Gardasevic – Supervisor

    E-mail: cmau@kawaiahao.org

    Telephone: (808) 469-3000

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  • Palama Settlement Archives ▶️

    Location: 810 N. Vineyard Blvd, Honolulu, HI 96817

    Website

    Internship Description

    Main objective: in-house digitization of print photographs. Activities include scanning and metadata ingestion. There may be some rehousing of original records.

    Library/Collection Description

    Primary source materials of Palama Settlement’s institutional records include correspondences, reports, newsletters, architectural drawings, ephemera, artifacts, and photographs from its inception in 1896. The photographic collection is comprised of over 4,500 lantern slides, film negatives, and prints.

    Required Qualifications

    Preferably LIS 659 Archival Representation, Access & Use, but not required.

    Desired Qualifications

    Must work in-person at Palama Settlement Archives.

    Weekly Schedule

    To be determined with intern. Palama Settlement Archives’ hours of operation are: Mondays – Fridays, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

    Goals and Outcomes

    • Understand the purpose of digitization of the collection for preservation and access.
    • Address ethical considerations when digitizing images, including copyright and privacy protection.
    • Learn the various formats of primary source materials.
    • Learn recommended scanning standards and specifications.
    • Understand different types of metadata and their schemas.
    • Review digitization policy and workflow.

    Evaluation Methods

    • Quantitative summary of digitized items and metadata ingestion.
    • 100-word recap of activities at the end of the internship.
    • Palama Settlement evaluation survey at the end of the internship.

    Evaluation Schedule

    Bi-weekly monitoring of deliverables.

    Contact Information

    Sidney Louie – Supervisor

    E-mail: mlouie@palamasettlement.org

    Telephone: (808) 848-2530

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  • Bishop Museum Library/Archives

    Location: 1525 Bernice St., Honolulu, HI, 96817

    Website

    Internship Description

    This internship is perceived to be a richly rewarding experience in the reference (in person and by e-mail) and processing work of a special library. It includes exposure to a variety of finding aids and handling copying requests, numbering, listing, and housing of special collections, and some cataloging of published materials (OCLC and Voyager) if desired. All special library staff do some technical as well as professional work.

    Library/Collection Description

    Bishop Museum Library/Archives has a worldwide reputation as one of the finest Pacific research facilities. Strengths of the collections include early Pacific voyaging accounts, Pacific island texts, documentary art, photographs, Hawaiian songs, chants and oral histories, moving images, and a large amount of unpublished written material (e.g. of Hawaiian monarchy) documenting the natural and cultural history of Hawaii and the Pacific.

    Required Qualifications

    Successful completion of the following courses:

    • LIS 601 Introduction to Reference & Information Services
    • LIS 605 Metadata Creation for Information Organization

    Desired Qualifications

    • Honesty, cooperativeness
    • Interest in reference librarianship
    • Possible interest in special and/or Pacific and museum libraries/archives.

    Weekly Schedule

    Public reference hours are Tues–Fri., 12-4, Sat. 9-noon. The intern should be able to do 6 hours of reference per week for maximized job training and exposure to special collections. Additional hours to be arranged between 8AM and 5PM Mon– Fri (no evenings)

    Goals and Outcomes

    Familiarity with demands of reference duties: student will have hands-on experience. Familiarity with the handling of rare materials: student will be coached in preservation measures. Experience with archival materials: student will learn how different types of materials provide information, and how they are organized for use. Experience with a special library: student will begin to understand the focus of a special library, and the balance between serving the general public and the academic staff. The challenge of a non-profit library: student will see how a small budget impacts the collection growth and work of Bishop Museum Library.

    Evaluation Methods

    Credit will be given when the 150 hours are completed. We cannot offer to pay the intern.

    Evaluation Schedule

    Monthly meetings will be held to address any concerns and to ensure that the experience is rewarding to the student. The supervising librarian will complete the LIS 690 Evaluation Form at the end of the semester.

    Contact Information

    Karla Morgan – Supervisor

    E-mail: archives@bishopmuseum.org

    Telephone: (808) 848-4222

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  • Science & Technology Reference, Hamilton Library

    Location: 2550 McCarthy Mall, Honolulu, HI 96822

    Website

    Internship Description

    This internship will allow students to gain experience working in a specialized collection of a large academic research library. The department’s activities include reference service, instruction, collection development, and some specialized services for defined user populations. The department maintains a training manual to guide LIS students about procedures and policies. Normal department hours are 9:00am to 4:00pm Monday thru Friday. Duties include:

    • Reference Desk assistance alongside a regular staff member and later on their own.
    • Science database instruction. Interns will be trained to assist users. Special projects in conjunction with online database instruction may be undertaken (i.e. revising or developing new instructional materials for handouts or creating/updating subject LibGuides).
    • Interns may occasionally assist librarians in providing classroom instructional sessions.
    • Special projects may also be undertaken upon approval by the supervising librarian.

    Library/Collection Description

    The Science Technology Reference Department has the largest and most extensive science collection in the state and represents the only major science research library in the Pacific region. The department supports teaching, learning, and research activities in the physical, biological and biomedical sciences programs. Six of the seven areas of excellence identified in the UH Strategic Plan are science programs.

    Required Qualifications

    • Interest in science librarianship
    • Completion of LIS 601 Introduction to Reference & Information Services
    • Completion of LIS 602 Resource Discovery

    Desired Qualifications

    • Undergraduate or graduate degree in a science field
    • Previous work in a library

    Weekly Schedule

    Flexible between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm Monday through Friday

    Goals and Outcomes

    Working in a large university library with an active scientific research community will give interns the opportunity to experience the rigors and demands of a real-life working environment. After a semester, student should be familiar with:

    • Nature of librarian-patron interaction during a reference interview and service
    • Primary science online databases
    • A representative scientific reference collection
    • Policy and philosophical issues within an academic environment

    Evaluation Methods

    Interns will be evaluated on reliability, communication skills when interacting with patrons and staff, and cooperative attitude. Other components of the evaluation will include competence searching OneSearch Manoa, ability to locate resources in both electronic and print bibliographic databases, knowledge of reference tools, and quality of contribution to assigned projects.

    Evaluation Schedule

    The supervising librarian will complete the LIS 690 evaluation form at the end of the semester.

    Contact Information

    Science & Technology Reference Chair – Supervisor

    E-mail: sciref@hawaii.edu

    Telephone: (808) 956-8263

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  • Lori Misaka Interviewed by Publishers Weekly

    Lori Misaka Interviewed by Publishers Weekly

    Publishers Weekly interviewed four librarians about how they create safe and welcoming spaces for their students and UHM’s very own Lori Misaka was one of them! Lori discussed her culturally diverse students and the amazing programs she has instituted to make each student feel welcome and included, as well as how her library has become a refuge for students away from the bullying and negativity that many students experience in school. Lori is the school librarian at Waipahu Intermediate School and a recent (December 2022) graduate of the UH Mānoa LIS program, where she pursued the School Media Librarian pathway. We’re proud to have Lori has part of the LIS ʻohana and are excited to see her hard work and dedication recognized. When discussing the article with Lori, she noted that “I wouldn’t be the librarian I am today if not for UHM LIS!”

  • LIS Issues Statement on Intellectual Freedom

    LIS Issues Statement on Intellectual Freedom

    “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.

  • Helen Wong Smith Awarded the President’s Award of Excellence by CoSA

    Helen Wong Smith Awarded the President’s Award of Excellence by CoSA

    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.

  • Lori Misaka Presented with the Blair Award 

    Lori Misaka Presented with the Blair Award 

    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. 

  • LIS Student Jessika Ross designs HLA centennial logo

    LIS Student Jessika Ross designs HLA centennial logo

    This year is the 100 year anniversary of the Hawaiʻi Library Association and one of our current LIS students, Jessika Ross, designed the centennial logo, which will be used during this year’s HLA conference. Here’s what Jessika had to say about her design:

    I knew I wanted to incorporate the existing HLA design featuring the open book and mountain design in order to put the centennial logo in the same conversation. My fellow LIS students, especially those in Nā Hawaiʻi ʻImi Loa Hui Haumāna and ALAsc, helped guide me towards the elements of the ʻumeke and kalo as representations of sustaining the mind and body. I knew I wanted to include the ʻohe kapala as a printmaker myself, and because it was integral in native Hawaiian culture, while the stylized water echoes the voyages theme of the 2022 conference.

    HLA gives a further description of the logo:

    Libraries and librarians are not just built from knowledge, but are of knowledge, and to that end, libraries thrive as communication and language develops, grows, and is nurtured. We hope that this logo captures both in design and in language, a vision of HLA 100 years from where it started.

    The centennial logo includes the following elements:

    • an ʻumeke, or traditional calabash or bowl
      A well-filled bowl is a well-filled mind. Subsequently, an empty bowl is an empty mind. Let us yearn to keep our bowls filled and to help to fill the bowls of the people in our communities.
    • kalo, or taro
      Kalo nourishes the mind and body and also represents the venerated ancestors of the land where we live.
    • a stylized representation of an ʻohe kapala, or bamboo stamp
      The stamp mimics the waves in an ocean, tying it to the theme of the conference (Voyages).

    Lastly, our logo incorporates ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi with the phrase “He Piha Kenekulia” which translates to “completion of a century.” Mahalo to our HLA friends and colleagues who diligently helped us with this translation. The Hawaiʻi Library Association has supported libraries and librarians in our island home for 100 years and, in our roles of nurturing knowledge, communication and learning, we want to be intentional about including and encouraging our members and the public to learn more about ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, the native language of where we live and breathe, now and into the times to come. If you’re interested in learning Hawaiian language, check out this KSBE article with suggested resources.

    Image: HLA Centennial Logo, used with permission from HLA

  • LIS Alumna Tori Ann Ogawa elected to ALSC Board

    LIS Alumna Tori Ann Ogawa elected to ALSC Board

    Tori Ann Ogawa, an LIS alumna, was recently elected to the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) Board. Tori Ann graduated from the LIS program in 2015 and is currently a Youth Services Librarian at the Kitsap Regional Library in Washington. This isn’t the first time we’ve shared news about Tori Ann either. She was selected as a 2017 Emerging Leader by ALSC six years ago! Congratulations Tori Ann!

  • So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (by Cheri Ebisu)

    So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (by Cheri Ebisu)

    Numerous faculty asked if I wanted them write a post for my departure as Program Coordinator and I felt bad about asking them to do more work, but what they also didn’t know is that they have already given me too much power and all I sow is chaos carefully crafted as normalcy. I might as well wield this power one last time on our website (newly updated and designed by current LIS student, Michelle Carino!)

    My experience as PC in the last several years? 10/10, would recommend. Thank you for letting me be your cheerleader, chocolate-supplier, unqualified tech support, anxious instructor, and that annoying presence in your inboxes, you know, the one with all the frogs.

    If my only legacy is an actual LIS frog mascot, I would be so honored. Don’t let the dream die in my absence. Do not let the LIS frog go gentle into that good night.

    My Work Dad, Rich Gazan, has always encouraged me to post updates on some cool stuff I’ve been doing outside of LIS, but I screeched like a panicked pterodactyl every time, and though that has not deterred him thus far, he has suggested it one last time. And who am I to deny my overlord, on this, my last day?

    So, anyway, I published a short story with Tor.Com last year, entitled “Blood in the Thread.” That was pretty nuts and lots of nice people read it! It is now in two Best Of 2021 anthologies, one with Tor.Com and another with Neon Hemlock. Radical.

    Another short story, “Monsters Calling Home” found a place in a horror anthology, What One Wouldn’t Do, edited by Scott J. Moses, which became a whole physical book that you can buy. Wild!

    I somehow got a literary agent through all of this, which also seems like a prolonged hallucination and yet it continues to be so in reality. The good news is this has enabled me to work on two short novellas (one a botanical space horror, the other a queer, mecha Urashima Taro retelling), and a whole mess of a novel that will be something, someday, maybe. The bad news is that to do dangerous things like follow my dreams or whatever, I have to give up this crazy rewarding job with LIS.

    Thanks for letting me run around asking questions, sharing questionable YouTube videos, learning a bunch of stuff about the UH System (a never-ending labyrinth), doing a bunch of things as the Kid Behind the Curtain, teaching a class (haha, whose idea was that?), and basically having fun for the past four years. It’s been a really good time.

    Thus, in the immortal words of Douglas Adams: So long, and thanks for all the fish.

     

  • LIS Students Help Raise Over $5K to Support School Librarianship

    Students in Dr. Wertheimer’s LIS 650 Management of Libraries and Information Centers class this spring completed service projects in the local community to practice their managerial skills. Jennifer Duncklee, Michelle Hatami, Lori Misaka, and Jesse Shiroma worked with Kalani High School librarian Daphne Miyashiro to raise funds for the Hawai‘i Association of School Librarians (HASL). Daphne was the HASL National Library Week chair, and set up a fundraiser at Barnes & Noble; the LIS student group helped coordinate marketing, scheduled volunteers, created promotional and advocacy materials, and worked at the book fair. They are pleased to report that this year’s fundraising total is $5056.46 from in-store and online sales, which will go toward supporting HASL’s efforts for school libraries. A big mahalo to the volunteers, Barnes & Noble, and Daphne for helping to make Jenn, Michelle, Lori, and Jesse’s project a success! 

    Other student team projects included a “Lei Making 101” event at a local library (Kylee Munro & Jessika Ross), WCDI / Salawaket Crossing (Michelle Carino),  “Ka Hana Mana a Nā Haumāna”(Ikaika Keliiliki), and creating a plan for a STEM-lego event on a Hawaii Island Public Library (Hayley Barte, Bianca Nabarrete-Lopez, & Bonnie Barron). Wertheimer explained that these projects highlight our program’s interest in community engagement and also let students experiment with doing real-world projects and employing  different managerial competencies. He added that all of these projects demonstrate the importance of developing leaders who can help libraries to meet local problems with innovative solutions. 

  • Jason Ford defends thesis “Indigenous Voices Informing Academic Information Literacy: Critical Discourses, Relationality, and Indigeneity for the Good of the Whole”

    The LIS Program is pleased to announce that Jason Ford successfully defended his thesis on how Indigenous research methodologies can better inform information literacy. His abstract follows:
    Instructional librarianship in public post-secondary institutions requires that librarians be responsive to a diversity of paradigms and student needs, including Indigenous contexts. Although constrained by institutional infrastructures, Indigenous research methodologies and epistemologies provide frameworks for Indigenous students and librarians to practice and support inquiry in ways that are responsive to their culturally- specific needs. Currently, research in library and information science about how Indigenous research methodologies and epistemologies can support academic librarianship is limited, especially concerning how Indigenous voices can inform information literacy as a whole. Using semi-structured interviews, 4 Indigenous LIS and academic professionals and an Apache-Comanche elder were interviewed to better understand how Indigenous voices can inform information literacy in the public academy. Responses were coded using thematic analysis, and results demonstrate that Indigenous voices can inform information literacy in consideration of relevancy, value neutrality, positionality, through being critical of hegemonic infrastructures including technology, prioritizing native voices, and centering relationality. This has implications in strategic planning, curriculum development, and informing social paradigms that support Indigenous people in post-secondary education while addressing modern issues for the good of the whole.
    Committee: Tonia Sutherland (Chair), Meera Garud, Keahiahi LongCongratulations, Jason!

  • LIS Alumna Shelley Lau Awarded 2022 HASL Golden Key Award

    LIS Alumna Shelley Lau Awarded 2022 HASL Golden Key Award

    Shelley Lau, an LIS alumna, was awarded the 2022 Golden Key Award by the Hawaii Association of School Librarians. The Golden Key Award recognizes school librarians who have provided exemplary service to the profession. She was presented with a framed certificate of recognition at the HASL spring social on April 23.

    Lau was nominated by Betty Arai, librarian at Mililani High School. In her nomination, Betty wrote:

    Shelley has mentored and inspired so many librarians throughout her career. She exemplifies 21st century library skills and her schoolwide literacy programs highlight the value of having a certified school librarian. Her schoolwide literacy programs highlight the value of having a certified school librarian. Her lesson plans are the best that I’ve ever seen. I am also so inspired by her workshops that she leads at numerous past HASL conferences which help to elevate our profession. Thankful to know someone as dedicated and knowledgeable as her in the field.

    In addition to supporting HASL, Lau has been an invaluable resource for preparing Hawaii’s future school librarians. She has visited several LIS courses to share insights about her role as an elementary school librarian, and has been a cooperating librarian for LIS students completing their school library practicum. We thank Shelley for her support of the LIS program at UH Manoa and are delighted to hear about her recognition as the 2022 Golden Key Award recipient.

    Congratulations, Shelley!