On Friday, April 10th, the School of Communication and Information (SCI) had their 2026 Open House. Originally intended as an in-person event, it was moved onto Zoom due to the bad weather and campus closures. The event began with Library and Information Science’s Assistant Professor, Keahiahi Long, performing the opening oli, "O Lono 'Oe".  Dean Denise Konan, Ph.D., Dean of College of Social Sciences, followed with the Welcome Remarks, the theme of the year (Human-Centered AI), and event agenda. SCI highlights were presented by Hye-ryeon Lee, Ph.D, Chair of SCI. Dr. Lee announced that the Library and Information Science (LIS) program placed #36 in the nation in 2025. Way to go, LIS! This year also marks the program’s 60th anniversary.

Congratulations LIS for making it to 60 years!

I wish you many more amazing decades. Looking back on my own LIS journey, I remember that when I began my studies in 2014, the department was in its own stand-alone college. Around 2015, they moved to be under the ICS (Information and Computer Science) program. ​

2009 HLA President Sheryl Lynch was named the 2012 recipient of the HPR Cornerstone Award for her service as a volunteer with Hawaii Public Radio and as Aloha Shorts House Manager. Lynch has also coordinated HLA volunteer opportunities at HPR. Congratulations to Lynch on the honor.

Virginia "Ginny" Tanji, director of the health sciences library at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, has been elected to serve as chair of the Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine. Her appointment comes as NLM prepares to celebrate its 175th anniversary, which will include a special exhibit that focuses on native peoples, including Native Hawaiians.

The National Library of Medicine is part of the National Institutes of Health. Tanji is one of only two health sciences librarians currently serving on the board. Eight other board members were appointed from leaders in the fields of medicine, dentistry, public health, hospital administration, pharmacology and bioinformatics. The board meets three times a year to advise, consult with, and make recommendations to the director of NLM on matters related to the library.

Tanji said preparation has been underway for some time for this fall's 175th anniversary celebration, which will include the opening of a special exhibit titled Native Voices: Native Peoples' Concept of Illness, on Oct. 5, at the national medical library, which is located in Bethesda, Md.

University of Hawaii at Manoa LIS professor and associate chair Dr. Violet H. Harada is the 2011 recipient of the American Association of School Librarian’s Distinguished Service Award. Established in 1978, the award, sponsored by Baker and Taylor, recognizes an individual member of the library profession who has, over a significant period of time, made an outstanding national contribution to school librarianship and school library development.

Harada was nominated by Carolyn Kirio and Debora Lum.

"Harada is a visionary mentor, instructor, colleague and advocate," read the nomination submitted by Kirio. "She continues to mold/influence librarianship with her expertise and knowledge. [She] is definitely a leader in the field."

Working to advance the profession, Harada has served on many AASL and other national educational association committees. Most recently, she was a member of the learning standards indicators and assessment task force that was charged with developing indicators, benchmarks and model examples from the AASL learning standards. The task force’s work culminated in the publication of "Standards for the 21st-Century Learner In Action." She has represented school library interests as an invited participant of the U.S. Department of Education's America Reads Challenge roundtable and as a member of the Student Learning through Ohio School Libraries international advisory panel.

Locally, Harada has served as an executive board member of the Hawaii Association of School Librarians (HASL) since 1993 and as member of the school library services advisory board in the Hawaii Department of Education. With the DOE, Harada has worked to establish guidelines and models for effective library programming. From 1995-1997, Harada was a commissioner for the Hawaii State Public Library System on the Oahu Public Library Advisory Commission. For her dedication and contributions to school librarianship in Hawaii, HASL awarded Harada with the 1990 Golden Key Award.

Harada has served as a professor in the computer sciences, library and information science program at the University of Hawaii since 1984. According to the nomination application submitted by Lum, "whether teaching graduate students or facilitating workshops for school librarians, Harada creates opportunities to connect theory to practice when developing their programs." For this exceptional teaching, Harada received the 2010 Sarah K. Vann Award for Professional Service and University of Hawaii-Manoa's 1998 Presidential Citation for Meritorious Teaching Award. Her students' success is a testament to her dedicated mentoring, as one has received AASL's School Library Program of the Year award and another was recognized as part of AASL President Nancy Everhart's Vision Tour.

"Dr. Violet Harada exemplifies the qualities worthy of the AASL Distinguished Service Award," said Janice Ostrom, award committee member. "She has received many grants and awards including the AASL ABC-CLIO Leadership Grant to further her research. Dr. Harada's career includes a lifetime of library research and dissemination of the knowledge gained through workshops, conferences, and professional writing. She has influenced the profession as a researcher, teacher, mentor and advocate. It is with great pleasure we honor Dr. Harada's service to the library profession."

The Technical Services Section is delighted to announce that Nancy Sack of the University of Hawai`i at Manoa Library has agreed to serve as the Section Chair. Nancy is planning some exciting programming related to the implementation of RDA (Resource Description and Access) and other developments in technical services. You may contact her at [email protected].