2023 Spring Meeting

2023 HLA Spring Meeting

Saturday, May 27, 2023 from 8:45am-1pm
Platform: Zoom
Cost: FREE.
[If your membership isn't current, please consider Joining/Renewing Now.]

Schedule:

8:45-9:00am
Meet and Greet
Welcoming remarks from Carina Chernisky and Sunny Pai
9-10am
Being Prepared for Book Bans and State Advocacy
Presenters: Joyce McIntosh and Jon Martin
10:15-11:15am
Libraries and the Legislative Landscape
Panelists: U.S. Congresswoman Jill Tokuda and State Representative Jenna Takenouchi
11:30am-12:30pm
Incorporating Advocacy in Your Life
Facilitators: Sharrese Castillo, Meera Garud, Krystal Kakimoto, Andrew Wertheimer
12:45-1pm
Business Meeting
[HLA Members Only. Not a member? Join/Renew Now.]

Information about our program, speakers, panelists, and facilitators can be found lower on this page. Questions for the speakers and panelists can be proposed here. Please note, due to time constraints not all questions may be addressed.

This Year's Theme

Libraries, archives, and museums have always stood for the preservation of information and today they are the keys to much of humanity’s knowledge. Depending on political winds or neglect, societies have either nurtured or made inaccessible this knowledge, including destroying knowledge to suppress culture, history, and democracy. How do libraries persevere? This brings to mind the ʻaʻaliʻi, a humble plant that was praised by the Hawaiians for its tenacity and strength. Often one of the first plants to emerge from a lava flow, it endures dry and windy conditions to grow tall and welcome other plants and living beings under its protection. In fact, forest conservationists plant ʻaʻaliʻi to regenerate forests (The Steadfast ʻAʻaliʻi). The seeds of knowledge can be planted in the worst soil and still thrive. In the ʻŌlelo Noʻeau, it is said “He ʻaʻaliʻi ku makani mai au; ʻaʻohe makani nana e kulaʻi. I am a wind-resting ʻaʻali‘i; no gale can push me over” (Pukui, 1983, #507).

About the Presentations

Being Prepared for Book Bans and State Advocacy

The American Library Association has taken a proactive approach to managing today’s challenges to intellectual freedom, access to information, and the freedom to read. Joyce McIntosh and Jon Martin will give an overview of the activities of ALA to combat the censorship crisis and protect intellectual freedom. They will share their insights of the current affairs at a national, state, and local level and advise actionable steps libraries in Hawaiʻi can undertake.

Libraries and the Legislative Landscape

U.S. Congresswoman Jill Tokuda represents Hawaiʻi’s Second Congressional District (CD2) and previously served as a Hawaiʻi State Senator chairing the Ways and Means Committee with a track record of supporting early learning and health services in public schools. State Representative Jenna Takenouchi represents the 27th District, is a graduate of the Management in Library and Information Science from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business, is a strong supporter of libraries, and is very concerned with the challenges that libraries face today. They will share their observations of challenges to intellectual freedom and access to information at the state and the national levels and advise, from a legislator’s and a voter’s point of view, what we should be aware of and how we may legislatively advocate for our profession.

Incorporating Advocacy In Your Life

This panel will build on intellectual freedom competence and will offer small group sessions to encourage participants to role play responding to challenges and to brainstorm what advocacy might look like in their lives and libraries.

About the Panelists and Speakers

Joyce McIntosh

Joyce McIntosh is the Assistant Program Director of the Freedom to Read Foundation (FTRF.) She has worked at the intersection of intellectual freedom, communication, and the First Amendment for decades.

Jon Martin

Jon Martin is the program manager for the Chapter Relations Office of ALA and supports the advocacy efforts of 57 state and territorial associations. He administers advocacy platforms used by state chapters.

Jill Tokuda

U.S. Congresswoman Jill Tokuda represents Hawaiʻi’s Second Congressional District (CD2) which includes suburban and rural parts of Oʻahu, the islands of Hawaiʻi, Kauaʻi, Maui, Lanaʻi, Molokaʻi, Niʻihau, Kahoʻolawe, and the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. From 2006-2018, she represented Kaneohe and Kailua in the Hawaiʻi State Senate. During her tenure she chaired the Ways and Means, Education and Higher Education, Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs, and Labor committees. As Ways and Means Chair, Jill balanced the state’s $14 billion budget and approved all fiscal and tax measures at the Hawaiʻi State Legislature. She also championed legislation that established the state’s first Executive Office on Early Learning and funded the Hawaiʻi Keiki Program to provide access to health services in public schools.

Jenna Takenouchi

State representative Jenna Takenouchi represents the 27th District (Kam Heights, ʻĀlewa Heights, Liliha, Puunui, Nuʻuanu, Dowsett Highlands, Pacific Heights, Pauoa, and a portion of Papakōlea). She has a Master’s of Management in Library and Information Science from the USC Marshall School of Business. Newly elected in 2022, she currently serves as the Vice Chair of the House Committee on Health & Homelessness. Additionally, she is a member of the House Committee on Finance and House Committee on Human Services. She has worked to improve public infrastructure, support schools and nonprofit organizations, and address community issues in District 27.

Sharrese Castillo

Sharrese C. Castillo was the former Branch Manager at Wahiawa Public Library and HLA’s ALA Chapter Councillor. Her philosophy on librarianship is that libraries are like a living organism; it must grow and adapt in the direction of the patrons’ needs and wants. Sharrese’s interests include: promoting public librarianship, creating and providing library programs that encourage lifelong learning, and connecting patrons with information.

Meera Garud

Meera Garud is an instructor with the Library & Information Science (LIS) program at UH Mānoa and coordinates the school library preparation program. Her focus is on understanding how educators can help students graduate high school while preparing them for college and career success. She earned her MLISc from UH Mānoa and BA from UC Berkeley.

Krystal Kakimoto

Krystal S. Kakimoto is the Health Sciences and Hawaiian/Pacific Librarian at Chaminade University and manages their Technical Services department. She also serves as the Operations Coordinator for Bishop Museum in their Library and Archives. She is the co-chair of the HLA Advocacy Committee, overseeing the Grassroots Advocacy portion of the committee.

Andrew Wertheimer

Andrew B. Wertheimer has taught LIS at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa since 2003. He’s also taught at the University of Tsukuba and San José State University. He’s served on the boards of the AHA, ALA, ALISE, HLA, including a decade as Chapter Councilor. This summer he will be teaching LIS 611: Intellectual Freedom at the LIS Program.