Jane Kurahara has a remarkable record of achievements through nearly six decades as a librarian and state specialist in the Hawaiʻi Department of Education (HIDOE) and as a volunteer with the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaiʻi (JCCH).
Kurahara earned degrees in elementary education from Smith College (BA in 1952) and Columbia (MA in 1953). She also received an MLS degree in library studies from UH Mānoa in 1970. She began her professional career as a teacher at Maʻemaʻe and Mokapu Elementary Schools before accepting her first librarian post at Mokapu in 1967. In the ensuing years, she also served as the librarian at Enchanted Lake Elementary and Royal Elementary. Her leadership skills were recognized by HIDOE administrators, and she joined School Library Services in 1975. She ultimately headed this unit that oversaw the work of the 250 public school libraries across the state. Under her mentorship, the public school libraries moved from card catalogs to automated systems. Importantly, librarians transitioned from “keepers of the books” to instructional partners with teachers to focus on collaborative work in information literacy.
When she retired in 1992, she created a “SWAT team” comprised of retired school librarians willing to help practitioners with collections and services. For several years, she also served as a consultant on an LIS seminar for beginning school librarians.
In 1994, Kurahara decided to assist the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i. She now has almost three decades of volunteerism with JCCH where she has teamed with other volunteers and brought her skills in administration and curriculum to focus on designing instructional resources for K-12 students that target the Japanese American experience in Hawai‘i. A key project was her work in rediscovering the physical location of Honouliuli, the largest WWII POW-internment camp in the state. After the war, the camp was lost in the jungle-like Ewa Plains. This rediscovery ultimately resulted in a JCCH campaign to have the site where hundreds of first generation Japanese were incarcerated recognized as a national monument. She was a critical member of the field team that actually uncovered the site. In 2015, she was on hand in Washington, D.C. to meet with President Barack Obama when he signed the historic document.
In 2016, Kurahara along with another LIS alumna Betsy Young, received the prestigious Frank Haines Award from the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation for their lifetime commitment to preserving Hawai’i’s heritage. Reflecting on her life’s work, Kurahara said,
What I learned in the library program is what I practiced in the rediscovery of Honouliuli. It centers on being alert to people’s needs and connecting this with the JCCH mission. My personal goal has always been to share history that captures marginalized voices, their stories and artifacts, and making this knowledge available to younger generations.