“My high school librarian had such an impact on me. I’m now pursuing librarianship because of her. I just hope that in some way I can be that impact for someone else.”

Alyssa Hanna, MLIS ‘24
Sunland, California

Alyssa Hanna is a Bridging Knowledge Scholarship recipient who graduated from San Jose State University (SJSU) School of Information (ischool) this past Fall with a Masters of Library Information Science degree focused on archives. She completed the degree in only one year, all while being an at-home caregiver for her two younger siblings living with autism. During her time at SJSU, she also presented at the California Library Association (CLA) conference on the relationship between white sage and indigenous cultures.

Why Librarianship

Alyssa grew up in a small town in Southern California.  Throughout her school years, she said she often felt ostracized because of her indigenous identity. “It made things harder that the only representation I had for myself on TV was Pocahontas.” However, Alyssa always found solace and comfort in her school’s library.

“I would turn to books to cope with different things going on in my life. Since I was really in love with books, I also found great comfort in libraries and librarians.” 

Despite Alyssa’s love of libraries, her post-high school trajectory was to become a special education teacher. As she was used to helping care for her two younger siblings living with autism, the transition to teaching felt natural. She went to Cal State University Northridge (CSUN) for their renowned teaching program.

Yet, as her time at CSUN was waning, the idea of becoming a teacher seemed less desirable. She contemplated where her passions lay: libraries, history and science. After much consideration and discussion with her school advisor, she felt librarianship would merge all her interests and decided to pursue a library science degree. She chose the SJSU iSchool for its affordability and online convenience. Alyssa was overjoyed when she got accepted into the Bridging Knowledge Scholarship program, which provides financial support for 15 American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian graduate students pursuing a Masters of Library and Information Science degree at SJSU.

“All my financial and academic problems were solved. As soon as I started the program at SJSU I fell in love with librarianship. It was the happiest I had been in school in a long time. I had found my space where I could really thrive.”

Caregiving and Librarianship

Alyssa started the SJSU MLIS program in the Spring of 2023. She chose the “Archives and Records Pathway” and breezed through it. However, during her brief time at SJSU, she was also registered with the Sunland Regional Center as the caregiver for her two siblings. This allowed her to help pay for school and support her family at the same time. She also sees a natural connection between the roles of a caregiver and a librarian.

“Librarianship can be so much about caring for people, especially public libraries, which are essentially strongholds of communities. A lot of people look to public libraries for information on things. Especially during the pandemic, libraries took on the role of spreading COVID information, or handing out tests, masks or various other supplies.”

White Sage and CLA

During her time at SJSU, Alyssa attended the CLA conference to present a poster on a virtual internship she did last summer with the Stephen and Peter Sachs Museum Botanical Garden in Missouri. The internship involved conducting research for the curator’s next exhibit on the scents associated with plants. She chose to focus on white sage, and her research explored the harmful effects the appropriation of white sage by non-natives can have on indigenous communities, who rely on the plant for medicine and deep cultural and religious purposes.

“A lot of people had no clue this was such a problem. That’s part of why I did this research and part of why I wanted to share it because nobody really thinks about it. Not many people really think about the impact they can have on Native culture. Especially because for so long Natives and Indigenous communities were not taken seriously.”

What’s Next

Now that Alyssa graduated, her goal is to get a job in archives and make a difference to someone in the library world.

“There’s so much you can do with archives. One of my far-out dreams, and I don’t know if it will happen, would be to work for Walt Disney Archives. I would love that. I also could see myself in an academic library or university. I just really hope I can make an impact somewhere.”

Advice for Students

“Save all of your work, no matter what it is, and also save your readings from class. You will need all this for your e-portfolio. Also, save your syllabus because the syllabus often leads you to websites that can be helpful. Lastly, make a folder for the ePortfolio and then make folders for each competency. That way you will have easy access to what you think might work for each competency.”