- 1972 -
The position of Asian American Counselor Coordinator (AACC) was created under Developmental Services with Thomas Hibino '69 as the first person to hold the position. The Asian American Alliance was also founded this year. From 1972 to 1989, seven AACCs were responsible for managing a reference collection of Asian American studies—Asian American Resource Center—in Peters 5b and serving as advisor to the Asian American Alliance.
The collection managers were Tom Hibino 72-73, Johann J. Lee 73-74, Donn Ginoza 74-75, Harvey H. Hayashida 75-77, Adeline Liu 78-79, Grant Din 79-82, and Tommy Woon, 82-89. The position was vacant 77-78 and Tommy Woon was promoted to Assistant Dean/Director of Asian American Affairs in 1987. Oberlin's last Asian American counselor coordinator was Valerie DeCruz. She was counselor/coordinator in Counseling Services under the Office of Student Support Services from 1989 to 1990, and then became one of the assistant deans in the same office. She left Oberlin in 1993. The collection was transferred to the main library in 1989 with an agreement titled "Oberlin College Library Guidelines for Student Resource Center."
- 1976-1977 -
Harvey H. Hayashida (AACC) reported to Dean Hal D. Payne in the 1976 self-evaluation that the Asian American Resource Center was composed of “about 80-100 books, magazines, newspapers, and newsletters from Asian American Community Organizations” and stated that he was working on acquiring audio-visual resources.
Hayashida further reported in the following year's annual report that the Asian American Resource Center was expanded to about 1,000 titles and supported by two student assistants, Wendy Lim and Tommy Lim, who helped order new materials as well as organize the collection. The resource center was widely used for student projects on Asian America, filling a gap in the knowledge available to students as no classes on Asian American subjects was taught through the College. The collection was also used to teach a Winter Term class and in the following decades it was almost always used to teach an ExCo, Winter Term, or both.
An AARC flyer from Hayashida's Memo:
- 1979 -
According to Addy Liu's 78-79 annual report, the Asian American Resource Center expanded from previously having materials almost exclusively focused on Asian American history to include materials on Asia and the relationship between Asia and (Asian) America.
- 1989 -
From 1984, "curtailment of custodial care and management of the Asian American Resource Center" through delegation of the work to a student assistant was repeatedly mentioned in AACC's annual reports. Promoted to Assistant Dean of Asian American Affairs in 1987, Tommy Woon reported that December that "The Asian American Resource Center services were disrupted severely by the changing of offices within Student Support Services. Students could not easily access materials for ExCo classes on the Asian American experience. Counseling was also affected because cultural counseling often relies upon library resources to illustrate points in identity development." He transferred the collection to the main library in 1989. The agreement was that the collection was not library property unless donated to the library and must be well maintained and organized, with library support, to be open and accessible to all members of the Oberlin College community.
Between 1995 and 2008, AAA students used Oberlin College Library barcodes to create 835 brief bibliographical and more item records (for multiple copies of the same title) so that materials could be kept track of and circulate through the library system. 21 titles had been checked out for use, mostly by students.
From 1989 to 2021, Mudd 315 was the space that hosted the Asian American Resource Center
- 2021 -
Changes in library spaces happened in 2021. Losing the entire A-level of Mudd Center, the library reappropriated Mudd 315 to be the staff lounge and the collection was moved out in a rush. Temporary relocation to Mudd 203 is not well documented and in doubt, but boxes of books and AV materials, paper folders of documents, as well as stand file boxes of serials soon took a corner of the library receiving room behind two doors that made the materials inaccessible to all but library staff. As a result, even AAA students who arrived in or after 2021 don't know about the collection.
- 2024 -
During fall 2022, AAA board members agreed to send archival records to the Archives, integrate the remainder of the collection into library research stacks, and add duplicate copies to the Asia House library. Board members asked to check the materials before integration could happen but the review was not completed before their graduation.
In January 2024, Mia Brito '24 taught EXCO 190 - ArchivesCo. Students in the class identified materials in the collection that are of archival value and reorganized the AAA records, which were temporarily deposited the Archives.
- 2025 -
On Feb 6, at a meeting with Mia Brito as well as Archivists Ken Grossi and Emily Rebmann, AAA members Erin Koh '26, Yuji Kono '25, and Asha Agarwal '26 agreed that AAA records would be best taken care of by professional archivists.
On April 5, Yuji Kono '25 updated current AAA members on processing progress since October 2024 and confirmed the decision to move forward with finding a space for materials that don't stay in the main library.
On April 24, Yuji Kono '25 and Yilin met with staff of the Office of Residence Life Mark Zeno and Jesse Fernandez for permission to shelve materials in the Asia House seminar room, which was unlocked for all students but will be accessible to only Asia House residents from fall 25.
On April 29 and May 6, Yilin moved and shelved the first half of the collection in the Asia House seminar room. The rest of this libguide accounts for that move. Processing continues in summer 2025 and the second half of the collection will be transferred by the end of summer 2025.
References
"Asian Americans" by Audrey Rubin in the Oberlin Review.
"An Early History of Asian American Alliance" by Amy Alipio in the Oberlin Review.
Subseries 1. Asian American Counselor Coordinator, 1978-1988 (1.25 l.f.). Series 4. Support Program Files, 1935-1988 (4.25 lin. ft.). Developmental Services/Student Support Services Records, Subgroup VII. Office of the Dean of Students Records, RG 12. Oberlin College Archives. Accessed April 28, 2025.