This article by UH Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) librarians Kawena Komeiji, Shavonn Matsuda and Kapena Shim was first published in Ka Wai Ola on July 1.
As we celebrate Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea this month, Kānaka ʻŌiwi librarians in the University of Hawaiʻi (UH) System have been working towards restoring Hawaiian knowledge sovereignty to the lāhui Hawaiʻi, with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
A new initiative launched this past December, Kahoʻiwai: Reclaiming Hawaiian Knowledge Sovereignty, focuses on improving access to Hawaiian resources in libraries and archives. The project will integrate ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and kuanaʻike Hawaiʻi into the ways we categorize, organize, and search for information in libraries.
Part of a collaborative effort by three UH campuses, Kahoʻiwai is led by Kānaka librarians at UH Mānoa, UH Maui College, and UH Hilo. This work builds upon previous groundbreaking work of the Ka Wai Hāpai project, which set the foundation and methodology for development of a Hawaiian Knowledge Organization System (HKOS) intended for implementation across libraries and archives with responsibilities for the preservation of Hawaiian knowledge.
Expanding on this work, Kahoʻiwai will also partner with Hawaiian language experts and scholars to create a Hawaiian language newspaper index from community-indexed information found in nūpepa, enhance 7,500 library catalog records with table of contents and descriptions, and revise incomplete and/or harmful descriptions in archival finding aids to provide better, Hawaiʻi-centered context, to Hawaiian collections at UH Mānoa.
As testament to the work of Kānaka librarians, Kānaka scholars and allies, particularly in recent years, UH Mānoa’s Hamilton Library has created two dedicated tenure-track faculty librarian positions to bolster Hawaiian knowledge sovereignty and ensure the long-term sustainability of this initiative.
Similarly, librarians at the UH West Oʻahu, UH Maui College, and UH Mānoa have been building a social media archive rooted in community and ʻāina.
Kaʻohipōhaku will consult with Kānaka activists and web archiving experts to identify tools and priorities for archiving social media content and to help establish culturally relevant practices for Hawaiʻi, culminating in a report that will be available to the public.
By shifting autonomy of collection development back into the hands of our people, we will empower the people of today to preserve their leo for the generations to come, much like our kūpuna did in the Hawaiian language newspapers.
Both the Kahoʻiwai and Kaʻohipōhaku projects are supported and strengthened by funding from the Mellon Foundation’s Public Knowledge Program. Kahoʻiwai was awarded $3.22 million over three years (2024-2027) and Kaʻohipōhaku was awarded $150,000 as part of a 1-year planning grant.
Libraries and archives are critical spaces for our lāhui to connect to and engage with. Through these efforts, we seek to center Hawaiʻi and improve libraries and archives in meaningful ways so that Kānaka feel welcomed and empowered to research, learn, and engage in these spaces and with the waiwai housed within these institutions.
While libraries are not commonly considered in the movement for ea, these efforts highlight our role as just one of the many pathways in furthering ea for the lāhui Hawaiʻi.
