The Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) Scholarships and Awards Committee is excited to announce the recipients of the 2024 ATALM Awards: Leah Choi and Leialani Wihongi-Santos!
APALA’s ATALM Grant will provide the receiving APALA members with registration to the ATALM Conference in November in Palm Springs, California. APALA is excited to provide our awardees the opportunity to network and gain professional development at this conference sponsored by ATALM which serves the needs of those who work to protect and advance Indigenous cultures. Congratulations!
Leah Choi
Leah Choi holds an MLIS with an Advanced Certificate in Strategic Management of Digital Assets and Services from San José State University, and a BFA in Photography with a minor in International Studies from the University of Washington. She was the Digital Asset Coordinator for The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens and a Co-Project Manager for Reading Nation Waterfall, an IMLS-funded project addressing equitable access to books and libraries for Native American children through community partnerships and culturally relevant books and programming. Leah is a Spectrum Scholar and the most recent Rare and Distinctive Collections Apprentice at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is committed to inclusive and equitable services with a focus on historically-marginalized and under-resourced groups, expanding access through digital asset management and curation, and digital stewardship and preservation of Indigenous cultural heritage materials owned and driven by their communities.
Leialani Wihongi-Santos
Hafa adai/Kia ora!
My name is Leialani Wihongi-Santos. My ancestral lands consist of: Guahan (Guam), Aotearoa (New Zealand), & Korea. I was born on Guahan, however, I currently reside on Tongva land. I just completed my first year towards my MLIS at SJSU and have also just completed my first year as an Assistant Stacks Manager at UCI Libraries. Although I am currently under the Access Services department, I have a strong civic engagement and social justice/advocacy background and would like to apply those passions into the library & information science field- specifically through the managing and repatriating of special collections and archives in a way that is culturally appropriate and sensitive to indigenous practices and our sacred.