Excluding Japanese American Readers in the Library of Hawaiʻi during the Territorial Era

Abstract

The ALA code of ethics call for serving all people with equity. However, during much of Hawaiʻi's Territorial era (1900-1959), Japanese Americans were largely overlooked and underserved by the early Library of Hawaiʻi, which later became the state library system. This presentation, using a variety of archival sources, challenges librarians to recognize discrimination in our own library history. This parallels recent research on the desegregation of public libraries in the American South and decolonization in many libraries in the Pacific.