L-R: Current APALA Executive Board Members Neil Ordinario, Member-At-Large, and Kat Bell, Treasurer; IILF scholarship winners Desiree Leialoha Castro-Manner, Thanh Mai K’taaya Bercher, Erlinda Naputi, and Stephen Shaw; Gary Colmenar and Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada, former APALA presidents and executive directors
Photo provided by Gary Colmenar
The 12th International Indigenous Librarians’ Forum was held in Hawai’i November 27-30, 2023. The conference theme of “Ea: Indigenous Agency and Abundance” celebrated the independence of Indigenous librarians from around the globe. The conference connected attendees to the ‘aina (land) of the Kingdom of Hawai’i and created space for pilina (relationship building), kuleana (responsibility), and aloha.
APALA provided scholarships for four Indigenous librarians to attend IILF. Two of our scholarship awardees share their reflections:
Stephen Shaw
It was really meaningful to be able to connect with other Pasifika along with other indigenous people from across the globe at IILF. It can often feel quite lonely being Māori in librarianship, where the efforts and works of Pasifika areoften forgotten or ignored. To be able to share in the joy of librarianship with other indigenous librarians and celebrate each other’s successes meant a lot to me. It filled me with joy to see so many great indigenous minds celebrating our agency and abundance despite our shared struggles. I was consistently impressed by the work our fellow indigenous librarians are doing in revitalizing our languages, promoting indigenous sovereignty, and building library spaces fully rooted in indigeneity. I left the conference feeling revitalized and have brought back the lessons from the conference to incorporate them into my own library work. More than anything, the relationships I was able to build and nurture with other indigenous librarians means everything to me.
Much love to our Kānaka Maoli hosts who took fantastic care of us, were nothing but generous, and made the whole conference so special. I also want to thank the organizers of IILF for all the work they put into making this forum happen as well as to APALA for giving me the opportunity to attend. I am already counting down the days to the next IILF and can’t wait to return! Kia kaha and Aloha ‘aina!
Desireé Leialoha Castro-Manner –
I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to attend IILF. It was an experience unlike anything I’ve ever done, especially in my role as a library worker. As a Kanaka Oʻiwi born and raised on the mainland, I’m pretty used to being one of very few Polynesians in a space at any time and in our library system, I am one of two self-identified Pacific Islanders on staff. But during the forum I was in rooms surrounded by other Indigenous folk who share similar challenges of being part of a diaspora, who are representing their communities often mistaken as being non-existent, and who are doing it within library spaces.
It was so reaffirming to know that we aren’t just a small few, but that there are so many of us doing this work. Hearing so many share their experiences and the work they do to ensure Indigenous voices and communities are seen and valued in their libraries has encouraged me to continue to do the same in my library system, even as one of very few. As a Native Hawaiian, just being in the presence of other Kanaka committed to creating library spaces where our language, knowledge systems, and history can thrive has reinvigorated my passion to do same for my community so we can have this space to embrace our identity and celebrate it in every way, even though we are far away from our home.