2026 HLA Conference

In this session I want to discuss how to use AI to help workflows and provide a better patron experience. 

The information environment for Hawaiʻi and Pacific resources exists as complex networks of knowledge shaped by place, identity, community, colonial histories, institutional collecting practices, and competing claims to authority. For librarians and information workers, creating a research guide is never a neutral act. The sources we select, the voices we amplify, and the annotations we write all shape how patrons come to understand people, places, and histories. Therefore, how do librarians thoughtfully and intentionally engage with these complex networks to build and manage our collections and provide reference and public services for our patrons?

Drawing from our experiences creating Pacific Islands research guides in LIS 631: Introduction to Hawaiʻi and Pacific Librarianship, we will share how research guides can become tools for engaging with networks of knowledge and power more intentionally: helping patrons identify perspective, context, and authority; making underrepresented voices more findable; and supporting more ethical library praxis. Presenters will reflect on how we selected sources, wrote annotations, and navigated moments of uncertainty, humility, and responsibility when working with Hawaiʻi and Pacific materials. The session will provide space for attendees to identify concrete steps they can take to more thoughtfully engage networks of knowledge and power in their own library work.

This session offers an honest and practical look at weeding at Honolulu Community College Library under severe constraints: limited time, staff shortages, and administrative pressure to downsize. We will explore the friction between ideal weeding principles and the realistic compromises required to get the job done. Specifically, we will share our process for weeding, and how we come to terms with “what is good enough” when doing it perfectly is not an option.

Designed as a collaborative space rather than a presentation, this session includes a ten minute interactive breakout discussion. Attendees will have the opportunity to share their own daily realities, triumphs, and practical solutions. By pooling our collective experiences, participants will leave with a shared bank of actionable strategies for managing collection downsizing and prioritization in their own libraries.

Subject to a range of increasingly devastating disasters, from earthquakes and tsunamis, to volcanic eruptions and hurricanes, Hawaiʻi is at risk for wildfires, flooding, sinkholes, and landslides. When facing a disaster, each of us needs to prepare for our own personal safety, and that of our families, while cultural heritage stewards also find themselves responsible for the care of physical and digital collections, the built environment, as well as the ʻāina itself. As one of the most isolated archipelagoes in the world, Hawaiʻi relies heavily on external sources for food and material supplies, but a statewide disaster may interrupt shipping lines, thereby cutting off much-needed, out-of-state resources. Although no one can predict the next disaster, we can plan ahead so we’re prepared to protect our cultural heritage.

Our presentation will focus on three important disaster planning steps that every institution or organization can start today: 1) drafting a (simple) disaster plan, 2) preparing a disaster kit, and 3) identifying useful resources. We envision this online, synchronous presentation as a necessary first step aimed to build a network of Hawaiʻi-based library, archives, and museum professionals trained in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery who can support each other and the community when needed.

Presenters will discuss the benefits of gamifying aspects of the workday, as a means of improving morale and taking positive action. 

In this session, UH Mānoa LIS students ʻAulani and Kainani Wagner will discuss the projects they are working on in their respective roles as graduate assistants. Though their work is different, they are connected by their shared goal of improving accessibility to ʻike Hawaiʻi in the information sphere through ʻAulani's reparative descriptions of records and Kainani's transcription of nūpepa. Through this presentation, ʻAulani and Kainani highlight the role of universities in creating and funding professional opportunities for students, and emphasize the importance of building and maintaining pilina across fields and communities in the practice of librarianship.