School Librarian Preparation Program – continued state approval – News release – April 2024
The Hawaiʻi Teacher Standards Board (HTSB) granted continued state approval to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library and Information Science (LIS) Educator Preparation Program (EPP) for School Librarians from 2024-2031. Representatives of the HTSB participated in the American Library Association (ALA) reaccreditation of the LIS Program, and renewed state approval of the school librarian preparation program in a parallel process.
HTSB Executive Director Felicia Villalobos remarked, “HTSB was impressed with the rigorous accreditation process with experts from the ALA. During the accreditation process, the LIS faculty and students provided multiple examples illustrating the important role school librarians play within their community. The design of the Library and Information Science Program supports school librarians throughout the State of Hawaiʻi and emphasizes how school librarians play an active role when it comes to community engagement and cultural preservation.”
LIS graduates who hold a Hawaiʻi teaching license and undertake a specialized program of study earn an additional School Librarian (K-6, K-12, 6-12) license. Meera Garud, instructor and coordinator for the School Librarian EPP, said “Our students join our program eager to spark curiosity and foster a love of reading and learning. By the time they graduate they gain the skills, experience, and confidence needed to build dynamic school library programs. Their joy for learning is contagious.”
The LIS School Librarian EPP is the only state-approved preparation program for school librarian licensure in Hawaiʻi. LIS alumni make up 95% of the approximately 63 licensed public school librarians in Hawaiʻi and often receive recognition for their significant role in creating high-quality inquiry learning experiences throughout the state. Alumna Laurel Oshiro, librarian at Sacred Hearts Academy Elementary Library, has served as a cooperating librarian for the program and was named “Teacher of the Year” by Hawai‘i Catholic Schools in 2020, a 2019 recipient for the Hawaiʻi Association of School Librarians Golden Key Award, and was a 2017 recipient of the Making IT Happen Award by the Hawaii Society for Technology in Education. Oshiro remarks, “Being a cooperating librarian offers the opportunity to share your experience and knowledge, fostering personal growth and development in others while also gaining fresh perspectives and a sense of fulfillment from seeing those you mentor succeed.”
Alumni have also been nationally recognized for their work, with sixteen holding current National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) licenses in Library Media. Two of these, Carolyn Kirio and Diane Mokuau, serve as National Board Professional Learning Facilitators who annually train cohorts of teachers on the certification process from all over the state. In 2021, Mokuau was named “School Librarian of the Year” by School Library Journal, and Michelle Carlson, another NBCT and LIS alumna, received this recognition in 2014. In 2016, Kirio was also selected by The White House as a great educator and honored at a Washington DC ceremony. As we celebrate the ongoing approval of the LIS School Librarian EPP, we are reminded of the profound impact our alumni continue to make by enriching the minds of students across Hawaiʻi.
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The LIS Program is part of the School of Communication and Information within the College of Social Sciences. LIS was established in 1965, and has been continuously accredited by the American Library Association since 1967.
