Students from the LEAP II (Library Education for the U.S. Affiliated Pacific) grant cohort participated in culminating events for the cohort at the Ke Au Hou - Generations of Pacific Librarianship Conference held May 1-3, 2018 at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.  2018 will mark the 50th anniversary of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UH-M) Library's Pacific Collection. Librarians, scholars, and information professionals from across the Pacific community came to Hawaii to reflect on the legacy left by librarian ancestors and consider the legacy to build for the generations of librarians to follow. The conference was co-sponsored and jointly hosted by UH-M Library's Hawaiian & Pacific Collections, the Center for Pacific Islands Studies, the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies, Nā Hawaiʻi ʻImi Loa, and the University of North Texas' Library Education for the U.S. Affiliated Pacific.  Attendees represented all of the Pacific Islands including Guam, Tuvalu,  Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia, Rapa Nui, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa as well as New Zealand and Australia.

Mark Phillips, Associate Dean for Digital Libraries for University Libraries at UNT presented a half-day workshop for the LEAP II students and the conference attendees. The workshop introduced digital curation that involves maintaining, preserving, adding value, and facilitating use and re-use throughout the lifecycle and over time. In this workshop, Phillips described the experiences in creating and curating diverse digital information resources such as the Portal to Texas History. The interactive discussions helped the workshop participants to gain deeper insights about digital curation tools and best practices that enhance our capacity to capture, search, discover, analyze, secure, and preserve digital information resources in general. The workshop was sponsored by the LEAP II grant and the Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS).

Students from the cohort presented their posters of their digital collections at the Opening Reception. For the culminating project for the LEAP II grant, each scholarship recipient created a cultural or historical digital collection representation of their island home.  Each student created the digital documents, pictures, video files, records, etc.; assigned the metadata; wrote a final report and exhibit about the collection; and made a research poster of their project.  The students’ projects were:

1. Gloryana Akapo – American Samoa - Presentation topic: "Tokelauan Language and Culture"
2. Belen Busby – Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands – Saipan - Presentation topic: "Marianas Latte Stone"
3. Kelsey Dela Cruz – Guam - Presentation topic: "It Takes a Village to Raise a Child: Autism Services on Guam"
4. Loring Faiive – American Samoa - Presentation topic: "U. S. Naval Occupation of American Samoa"
5. Rhea Francisco – Guam - Presentation topic: "Yo’Amte and Traditional Medicine on Guam"
6. Pamela Sue Legdesog – Guam - Presentation topic: "Ulithian Lava Lava"
7. Omar Manacop – Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands – Saipan - Presentation topic: "Reconstructed Tools Used by Ancient Chamorros Handcrafted and Reconstructed by Noel Quitugua"
8. Shelley Remengesau – Palau - Presentation topic: "Omengat: the First Childbirth Ceremony"
9. Karleen Samuel – Federated States of Micronesia – Pohnpei Presentation topic: "Micronesian Folktales and Legends"
10. Lola Schutz – Republic of the Marshall Islands Presentation topic: "Artifacts of Survival Tools in the Marshall Islands"
11. Ryan Shook  - Guam Presentation topic: "GAX – the Guam Art Exhibit"

On the third day of the conference, the LEAP II students gave presentations about their digital collection at the Kamakakūokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies Hālau o Haumea at the University of Hawaii – Manoa.  Each student gave a PowerPoint presentation describing their collection and process in organizing and digitizing the artifacts from their islands. Each student's presentation can be found here: https://guides.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/c.php?g=732530&p=5874968 

On Friday, May 4th, a Recognition & Hooding ceremony was held for the LEAP II students who successfully earned their Master's in Library Science degree from UNT. For more on the recognition ceremony, click here.