On April 30, HPU President Chatt G. Wright announced the appointment of Kathy Chee as university librarian. Chee will be responsible, Wright said, for the “management of library services and administration” for both Meader and Atherton libraries.

Chee, who has been associate university librarian (a position that will be discontinued), will also be expected to provide leadership in “maintaining efficient and innovative uses of available technologies and in working closely with academic programs and colleges on their academic learning resource needs,” Wright said.

During this past year, Chee has represented the University libraries on the Deans’ Council, has worked closely with others on the University’s accreditation preparations, has led the establishment of a Library Advisory Council which has resulted in closer working cooperation on learning resource matters with academic programs. She was recently elected to the Hawai‘i Library Consortia board to represent private universities in Hawai‘i.

Chee started her career at HPU as the sole cataloging reference librarian at Meader Library in 1982. At that time the library covered only a half floor in the 1060 Bishop Building and had a total staff of five. Today it is two separate libraries with multiple floors in 1060 Bishop and a staff of 15 in just the Cataloging and Reference Services units.

“ Under her leadership,” Wright said, “we expect the University libraries to continue to thrive and to continue to work closely with faculty and students as the integration of learning resources operations with academic programs at HPU continues.”