$3.22M Mellon grant boosts Native Hawaiian knowledge at UH Mānoa Library

The project will be housed at UH Mānoa Library.

Part of the 90 linear feet of John Charlot Papers to be described using the Hawaiian Knowledge Organization System.

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library is continuing to make strides toward becoming a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning with the support of a $3.22 million grant from the Mellon Foundation. This funding will help the university integrate Native Hawaiian knowledge into its library collections by developing a Hawaiian Knowledge Organization System (HKOS) and a Hawaiian language newspaper index. UH Mānoa is among the first institutions in the country to incorporate Indigenous knowledge practices into its academic resources, creating new opportunities to preserve and share Hawaiian cultural knowledge within the academic community.

“It is my expectation that this work will be transformative not only for the UH Mānoa Library and the UH System libraries, but also for the Native Hawaiian community, who will see their traditional knowledge system reflected in how we describe and categorize library collections,” said University Librarian Clem Guthro.

The initiative, known as Kahoʻiwai: Reclaiming Hawaiian Knowledge Sovereignty, builds upon several successful pilot projects led by Native Hawaiian librarians Shavonn Matsuda (UH Maui College), Kapena Shim (UH Mānoa) Annemarie Paikai (UH Hilo), and Keahiahi Long (Library and Information Science Program, UH Mānoa). The three-year project, housed within UH Mānoa Library Services, aims to develop a Hawaiian-language-controlled vocabulary system that will be used to organize and describe library collections using traditional Hawaiian practices.

Creating Hawaiian language catalog system

A key component of the project is the co-creation of a Hawaiian language newspaper index, or Nūpepa Index, designed to improve access to community-indexed information found in Hawaiian-language newspapers. The HKOS will also be applied to catalog the John Charlot Papers, an invaluable archive containing works by the influential scholar of Hawaiian religion and culture. This initiative will integrate traditional Hawaiian knowledge into the way these materials are described and made accessible to the public.

The project will also fund three new librarian faculty positions to support the development of the HKOS, further strengthening the university’s commitment to Native Hawaiian knowledge sovereignty.

“By incorporating traditional Hawaiian knowledge systems, we are not just cataloging materials—we are reclaiming and honoring our cultural heritage in a meaningful way,” said Matsuda, program director/PI and head librarian at UH Maui College.