Did you know that the Hawaii State Public Library System is the only statewide library system in the entire United States? After Hawaii became a state in 1959, the Hawaii State Legislature pulled together all the county libraries and established a statewide public library system. Since then, the Hawaii Library system has been pursuing a mission to, “nurture lifelong love of reading and learning through its staff, collections, programs, services, and physical and virtual spaces.”

On Sunday, January 24th, Ian Kitajima joined Hawaii’s State Librarian, Stacey Aldrich, to present a talk on Artificial Intelligence at the American Library Association midwinter event. In a session titled, “Artificial Intelligence: The Future is Already Here”, Ian and Stacey presented the Aloha AI system and the installation that Oceanit recently launched at the Kaimuki Public Library. The pilot Aloha AI occupancy sensor in Kaimuki is helping to track library occupancy and use patterns over hours, days, and weeks. In the past, the Hawaii libraries relied on manual people-counting to assess visitor amounts. The installation is the first of many that will be worked on by students from across Hawaii.

You can read more about the session in an article on the American Libraries Magazine website: “Meeting the Future Head-on” by Carrie Smith.