Vision, Mission, Values, Strategic Goals and Actions

VISION

Ho‘omoe wai kāhi ke kāo‘o.
Let all travel together like water flowing in one direction.

Hamilton Library will be a dynamic partner and strategic resource for the university’s teaching, learning, research, and service endeavors.

MISSION

I ulu nō ka lālā i ke kumu.
The branches grow because of the trunk.

Connecting our community to the wisdom of place, people, past and future.

The faculty and staff of Hamilton Library serve as the human connection between people and the information they need to succeed. We acquire, organize, preserve, and provide timely access to information stored in the intellectual works of the past, but also offer the space, technology, and skills our users need to explore, collaborate, and create the future of scholarship together. The library is a premier resource in Hawaiʻi, Pacific and Asia-related research for both the local and global communities and provides the university a center of knowledge grounded in our unique and diverse place in the world.

VALUES

These values help us become a better library for the patrons we serve, the research collections we steward, and the university we support. These values inform the directions of our work, how we do our work, and ways to be accountable. Hawaiian words are given a definition to help with one’s understanding, but these words carry with them multiple meanings and thus are hyperlinked to their entry in the online Hawaiian dictionary, wehewehe.org.

HAWAIʻI
Ua ao Hawaiʻi ke ‘ōlino nei mālamalama.
Hawaiʻi is enlightened, for the brightness of the day is here.

We recognize that we are in Hawaiʻi and that means we have a unique responsibility to this land and to the indigenous people of the land in their fight for ea and pono2. We must be cognizant of Hawaiian language, culture, and history as well as to the languages, cultures, and histories that make up Hawaiʻi today. We must be aware of our own mo‘okū‘auhau (genealogy)—personal and professional—and how it informs our kuleana (responsibilities) to Hawaiʻi and kūlana (positionalities) in Hawaiʻi.

‘IKE – Knowledge
E kuhikuhi pono i nā au iki a me nā au nui o ka ‘ike.
Instruct well in the little and large currents of knowledge.

We recognize the library is a center of research for the university that plays an integral role in the creation and transmission of ‘ike (knowledge) and mana (power). We aim to create a research space that fosters critical thinking about knowledge and the tools used to access and create knowledge.

KĀNAKA – People
Ua ola nō i ka pane a ke aloha.
There is life in a kindly reply.

We recognize the humanity in our collections and in the patrons that we serve. We strive to be empathic and supportive of the academic and personal journeys of our patrons. We strive to connect with one another and our patrons in a space of aloha.

MĀLAMA – Stewardship
Hahai no ka ua i ka ululā‘au.
Rains always follow the forest.

As stewards of ʻike, we are responsible for managing information and connecting people to it. We are responsive and flexible in creating innovative and technical solutions that best care for our collections, patrons, spaces, and systems. We approach our work with creativity and intelligence to discover efficient and sustainable solutions to manage our responsibilities, materials, and services.

ALU LIKE – Collaboration
E ala! E alu! E kuilima!
Up! Together! Join hands!

We engage in the collaborative process with our colleagues and patrons in our university, the university system, and in our local, national, and international communities to create and enhance our services to better promote and provide access to information. We work in an environment that is based on pilina (relationships) and collegiality and an open, transparent, and respectful exchange of information and ideas. We share governance with the university and colleagues and do not take that responsibility lightly.

KŪLIA – Excellence
Mōhala i ka wai ka maka o ka pua.
Unfolded by the water are the faces of the flowers.

We care about what we do and put great effort into creating the best work possible. We practice being honest, compassionate, and ha‘aha‘a (humble) with ourselves and each other to maintain a culture of balance, trust, respect, empathy and integrity.

KŪPONO – Justice
He ‘ike ‘ana i ka pono.
It is a recognizing of the right thing.

We recognize libraries, archives and the information systems we engage in can be socially, culturally, economically, and politically unjust. We strive for equity, diversity, and inclusion in our work to empower the communities we serve and to foster a safe, supportive, and kūpono (just) environment that contributes to the success of how our communities engage with information.

HAMILTON LIBRARY STRATEGIC GOALS AND ACTIONS

BECOME A NATIVE HAWAIIAN PLACE OF LEARNING

We will work towards transforming the library into a Hawaiian learning space by grounding it in Hawaiian language, culture, and history; improving information systems for Hawaiians and Hawaiʻi; and having a strong commitment to advancing the ea3 of Hawaiian communities.

• Design and conduct an internal assessment of how well the library is functioning as a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning.
• Develop Hawaiian cultural, history, and language competencies of library personnel to better support the creation of a Hawaiian learning space in the library.
• Improve cataloging and metadata to facilitate more precise searches and discovery of Hawaiʻi and Hawaiian materials.
• Create bilingual Hawaiian language and cultural signage for public-facing areas in the library.

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT A COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY

We will develop new, accessible, and engaging ways of sharing our services, staff expertise, collections, and opportunities with our users, donors, community partners, and each other.

• Revisit the staff position description for a library communications coordinator in charge of internal and external communications and recruit for this position.
• Design an annual report and compile library content from various departments to highlight library staff, programs, improvements, and collections, as well as feature library usage statistics
• and finances.
• Investigate new social media platforms to expand the library’s external communications and to share library stories with a broader audience.
• Highlight library resources within our physical library spaces through the use of QR codes, signage, videos and exhibits.
• Create a style guide for library public relations materials.

SUPPORT THE SUCCESS OF ALL STUDENTS

We will support research, learning, mentorship, innovative programs, and interactive facilities. Our focus involves deepening the collaboration and partnerships with students and campus.

• Develop a more robust set of instructional sessions, generate micro-learning opportunities, and technology skill advancement.
• Work towards a greater understanding of information literacy, starting with exposure to library services during New Student Orientation that is reinforced and developed in workshops.
• Establish a presence and relevance across campus by partnering with student service programming.
• Grow, diversify, and promote the Loanable Technology Collection.
• Provide, support, and promote low and no-cost learning materials for students, including no cost textbooks, Open Educational Resources, and videos.

PROVIDE SELECT TECHNOLOGIES THAT SUPPORT TEACHING, LEARNING, AND RESEARCH FOR STUDENTS, FACULTY, AND STAFF

We will be a hub for academic inquiry, research,and innovation by providing relevant and reliable technologies and proactive and responsive support.

• Reimagine, redesign, and implement anew library website.
• Embed library resources within the university’s new Learning Management System.
• Provide a research-focused discovery tool that enables collaboration among faculty across all disciplines.
• Assess, reimagine, and deploy the technologies we offer within the library.

STRATEGIZE AND DESIGN COLLECTIONS FOR THE FUTURE

We will curate, craft, and optimize general and special collections to build upon our unique heritage and resources, while also aligning with the needs of UHM students, faculty, staff, and community in advancement of the mission of our institution.

• Identify and purchase electronic backfiles to free up collection space and make material easily accessible.
• Review collection materials budgets to align with current academic programs.
• Assess, combine and inventory the collections in preparation for a collection storage facility.
• Examine special collections priorities for physical and digital collections and develop a strategy for space, growth, description, digitization, discovery, and preservation.

BUILD SUPPORT FOR DATA AND DIGITAL SCHOLARSHIP

We will build capacity and opportunities to support teaching, learning, research, and collaboration for data science , data management, data stewardship and digital scholarship.

• Optimize library physical and virtual space around data and digital scholarship by providing areas for technology enhanced collaborative activities.
• Develop best practices and prioritization for processing, digitizing, describing, disseminating, and preserving digital materials.
• Improve outreach, advocacy and instruction of data services and digital scholarship tools.