The place name of Waipahu refers to waters gushing forth, as the abundant springs in the area nourished those who gathered there. Being an educator and librarian at Waipahu Intermediate School, the abundant spring serves as a fitting metaphor for my work; to keep the waters flowing, I rely on networks of people and organizations to keep the knowledge and experiences abundant for our students. In this session I will share about partnerships with teachers, local and national organizations, and others in the community that deepen and expand my ability to provide resources and services to our students. How do we keep our programs and libraries fresh and thriving when budget cuts, challenges to libraries and the profession, and cultural shifts threaten to choke off the living water at its source? It’s Nā Pūnaewele ʻIke that will keep us connected and alive amidst the changes for years to come.
Lori Misaka is a librarian at Waipahu Intermediate School, with an MLIS from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and MFA from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Previously an ELA teacher at Waipahu High School, her experience in the EL department and Academy of Arts and Communication... Read More →
Today's teens are growing up in an increasingly complex world and many are entering adulthood feeling unprepared for everyday responsibilities. Libraries have a unique opportunity to bridge this gap by helping them build confidence, practical skills, and meaningful connections at the library.
In this interactive and idea-filled session, participants will discover practical ways to incorporate life skills into library services through programs, displays, conversations, partnerships, and everyday interactions. Kimberli Buckley, author of Teaching Life Skills at the Library, will explore why so many young people feel unprepared for life after high school and will introduce The Big 3—Money, Jobs, and Cooking as practical starting points for life skills programming that every library can adapt.
Participants will also learn practical approaches that inspire teens, build relationships, connect them with resources, and strengthen community partnerships. Along the way, dozens of ready-to-use program ideas will be shared, as well as passive programming examples, microlearning opportunities, and conversation starters that can be implemented at libraries of any size.
Whether participants are just getting started or looking to expand their knowledge, they will leave with ideas on how to connect, learn new resources, and gain the confidence to help teens prepare for adulthood while creating stronger connections within their community.
Libraries routinely connect community members with information about health, education, social services, financial literacy, and other wellness resources. Yet brochures, websites, and referrals alone may not be enough to encourage engagement, particularly when stigma, uncertainty, or lack of familiarity create barriers to help-seeking.
Drawing on a programming framework developed to target holistic wellness within the military community, this session explores how collaborative programming can create meaningful pathways between community members and trusted resources. By partnering with subject matter experts and community organizations, libraries can provide low-pressure opportunities for individuals to learn, ask questions, build relationships, and become more comfortable accessing support services.
Participants will examine practical strategies for developing wellness-focused partnerships, designing co-facilitated programs, and adapting these approaches across different library settings.
I’m the Programming Librarian at Marine Corps Base Hawaii Library. I design programs that connect our community with resources and opportunities that make life on base a little easier and a lot more fun.
Labor Archivist-Librarians Joy Enomoto and Ellen-Rae Cachola will talk about the origins of our libraries and repositories, namely the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Center for Labor Education and Research. We will discuss the challenges we face in educating members and all workers about the significance of our labor libraries and labor archives, and how they educate and empower working people about their histories to face challenges ahead.
CLEAR Librarian & Digital Archivist, Center for Labor Education and Research, University of Hawaiʻi-West Oʻahu
Ellen-Rae Cachola, Ph.D., MLISc, is the Librarian and Digital Archivist at the Center for Labor Education and Research, University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu.
Libraries, archives, and museums are increasingly asked to navigate complex decisions amid shifting priorities, evolving technologies, constrained resources, and organizational change. While technical best practices remain essential, they do not always help us determine where limited time and effort will make the greatest difference, or how to sustain the people doing this work.
This session introduces Navigating Uncertainty, a human-centered framework/reflection tool developed through the Digital POWRR Peer Assessment Program. Originally created to complement technical assessment frameworks, it helps practitioners reflect on the human and organizational conditions that shape sustainable stewardship, including confidence, institutional support, relationships, resilience, and organizational capacity.
The framework emerged from years of conversations with practitioners participating in Digital POWRR workshops, institutes, and peer assessment cohorts across North America. Hawaiʻi has been an especially meaningful part of that journey through multiple in-person training programs and continued participation in the Peer Assessment Program, bringing together professionals from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage organizations across the islands. Through these experiences, we repeatedly heard about the uncertainty practitioners were navigating: constrained resources, organizational barriers, geographic distance, distributed communities, competing priorities, and the emotional work of stewardship. While every institution's circumstances were different, these conversations revealed common patterns that existing technical assessment frameworks could not fully describe. Navigating Uncertainty was developed to make those experiences more visible and provide a shared language for reflection, conversation, and action.
Although developed within the context of digital preservation and stewardship work, the framework is broadly applicable to libraries, archives, museums, and other stewardship organizations. Through examples and guided reflection, participants will explore how it can support decision-making, mentoring, organizational conversations, and strategic thinking during times of uncertainty. Attendees will receive a printable reflection guide and practical ideas for adapting the framework within their own organizations.
Located inside Seoul’s COEX shopping mall, Starfield Library is widely recognized for its dramatic bookshelves, open design, and popularity among tourists and social media users. Many visitors come primarily to photograph the space rather than to read, raising questions about whether this kind of activity distracts from the purpose of a library or creates new forms of public engagement. Previous studies have examined Starfield Library in relation to spatial design, user experience, cultural consumption, and its role as a commercial and cultural landmark. Less attention has been given to how visitors themselves define and use the space through tourism, photography, online reviews, and social media. This presentation explores how these activities shape Starfield Library’s identity as a reading space, tourist attraction, cultural venue, and commercial amenity. Using institutional materials, media coverage, and a qualitative review of online visitor comments, the study examines how visitors describe their experiences and what they appear to value about the space. It considers whether people who enter mainly to take photographs can still be understood as library users, how online sharing influences public perceptions of the library, and whether visibility and high attendance can lead to deeper engagement with books, programs, or cultural learning.
The presentation concludes by considering what libraries in Hawaiʻi might learn from this case. Attractive spaces and strong online visibility may help libraries reach people who do not initially see themselves as library users. At the same time, attendance alone does not necessarily demonstrate meaningful engagement with information, reading, or library services. Starfield Library offers an opportunity to rethink what counts as library use, how physical and digital spaces shape public participation, and how libraries can welcome new audiences without allowing spectacle or commercial interests to overshadow their educational and public service missions.
