In my opinion, librarianship is all about the organization of knowledge and, therefore, power. I want to be a part of that. I want to organize power in ways that are easily accessible to Kānaka Maoli, ways that appeal to us, and ways that work with and are centered in our universe. My name is Alyssa Purcell, and I will become an archivist and/or librarian, so that I can help restore my people’s agency when it comes to the organization of our own knowledge.

 

More specifically, I want to help organize ʻike Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian knowledge) through Kānaka Maoli-oriented knowledge organization systems (KOS), methodologies, and technologies. Building off of past research like Shavon-Haevyn Matsuda’s thesis Toward a Hawaiian Knowledge Organization System, I want to uncover and rediscover past systems as well as help develop new ones that tackle the current issues we face in Western KOS’s like omissions and misrepresentations.

 

The core values that shape my philosophy of librarianship are ʻohana, kuleana, and aloha. I see these values as parts of a tree. ʻOhana being the roots and the communities from which we sprout. Kuleana being our growth as we stretch our trunk and branches towards the sky. Aloha being the fruit we bear to feed current and future generations.

 

My ‘ohana consists of all the connections I’ve made in my lifetime: my mom, brother and grandma; the halau (Halau Nā Mamo ʻO Puʻuanahulu) to which I dedicated a decade; all the schools I’ve attended (Waiau Elementary School, Kamehameha schools, and UHM’s Hawai’inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge); and all the libraries I’ve studied in and grown in. The members of my ‘ohana have taught me that leadership requires teamwork and that teamwork requires respect of the team’s mission, the team’s members, and the knowledge being handled. That is the sort of energy that I have brought to course projects like my Final Query Search Exam and that I intend to bring to my work as an information professional.

 

My kuleana has been to build upon my communities and to make them proud. It was my kuleana to immerse myself in the Hawaiian language all throughout my middle school, high school, and college years. It was my kuleana to graduate with a degree in Hawaiian Studies and a 4.0 cumulative GPA in December 2018. And it was my kuleana to write about my communities in essays that have been published in the Skipping Stones Multicultural Literary Magazine (2014) and on the Pūpū A ʻO Ewa website (2015), and in poems that have awarded me a Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo award (2015) and the Darwin T. Turner award (2016). My kuleana have taught me not to fear hard work and growth and that everyone is capable of realizing their goals with the right assistance and resources, which I have strived to provide in projects like my portal for distance learning “Nā Waihona Haumāna: A distance-learning portal for HLIP student,” my pathfinder for patrons at the Pearl City Public Library, and my Omeka digital exhibit “Nā Ahupuaʻa o ka Moku o ʻEwa.” While my professional goals and interests are informed by Indigenous librarianship, I want my impact as an information professional to reverberate throughout all of Hawai’i. I want to expand and maintain accessibility to desperately-needed resources for all Hawai’i residents. Because that’s what our communities deserve.

 

My grandma is the foundation of my family. She not only raised all of her grandchildren, but she also took care of her older sister, who suffered from a stroke in 2015. After my grandma was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, the roles reversed, and I became her sole caretaker as well as her sister’s. I was able to take the aloha she’d gifted me and return it to her. That is what aloha is all about. You’re given it. You grow with it. And then you pass it on. My aloha manifests when I reciprocate the love I’ve received from my communities in the form of community engagement projects such as my action plan “Native Hawaiian Researchers at the Hawaiʻi State Archives: A Community Action Plan.”

 

And that’s how I have arrived to this profession. I am deeply thankful for all the communities, relatives, and teachers that have loved me, and I intend to reciprocate that love through my service as an archivist and/or librarian.