Month: March 2023

After serving seven years as LIS Program Chair, the LIS faculty unanimously elected Professor Rich Gazan to continue in the same role with a new title, LIS Program Director, in the new School of Communication and Information in the College of Social Sciences.

“My vision for LIS is not to inflict any single vision of what LIS is or could be on students, staff and faculty. I want this to continue to be a place where people are supported to do the work they want to do, get to know each other as individuals, and develop LIS skills and perspectives to help the communities they want to help. That may not sound like the most radically subversive agenda, but I’m genuinely honored to be part of a community that values reflective and compassionate professional practice more than externally imposed metrics of achievement. As a program, we’re George Bailey, not Mr. Potter :).”

LIS Instructor Meera Garud, MLISc gave a talk on “Getting Past the Trigger: Learning How to Navigate Misinformation with Grace” as part of UH West Oʻahu Library’s Misinformation Week on March 20, 2023. This weeklong event raised awareness about this important topic with nine sessions led by faculty, college librarians, public librarians, and school librarians. Kapolei High School students also visited the UHWO campus to learn how to be responsible users of information. Garud’s talk allowed participants to learn about the role everyone plays in unintentionally sharing misinformation, and how we can practice mindfulness when we encounter emotionally triggering news.

LIS Associate Professor Andrew Wertheimer joined State Librarian Stacey Aldrich and HASL President Caitlin Ramirez in a Hawaiʿi Library Association Next Steps webinar “Facts in the Stacks: Considering Book Challenges in Hawaiʿi” on March 25, 2023, to discuss the national trend of book challenges and how local librarians are responding.  For those interested in learning more, Dr. Wertheimer will be teaching LIS 611 Intellectual Freedom this summer!

We welcomed back Rutgers University School of Communication and Information Professor Nancy Kranich to the LIS Program on March 7, 2023, when she spoke in Andrew Wertheimer’s Academic Librarianship class.  Kranich served as ALA President in the year 2000, which was an important one for academic and intellectual freedom. She’s a respected national voice on issues of community engagement, intellectual freedom, diversity, and many other library issues. She previously gave a special address at LIS in 2016.