Library Services Team

Library Services Team 2024-2026
Risa Hatanaka is the Librarian at the Japan Foundation, Toronto (JFT). She oversees all library services for patrons across Canada interested in Japanese culture and language. With a research interest in information behavior, she completed her master's thesis, Using Japanese Sources for Academic Research: Information-Seeking Behaviours of Graduate Students, which received a CARL Research in Librarianship Grant in 2020. Before joining JFT, she worked as a business consultant for public services.

Library Services Team 2024-2026
Nobu Kawaguchi is a Reading Room Coordinator at the ICICS/CS Reading Room at the University of British Columbia. Nobu holds a Library & Information Technology diploma from Langara College and a Master of Library and Information Studies degree from UBC iSchool. Previously, Nobu worked as a Library Consultant at the Vancouver Japanese Language School and Japanese Hall, leading a project to set up a digital platform. Nobu is interested in analyzing how user experience and user-centerd design can improve library services and use of resources, as well as in developing practical solutions.

Library Services Team 2024-2026
Kristen Luck is the librarian for the Okinawa Collection and Japan Resource Center at George Washington University. She holds a M.A. in Asian Studies from GW Elliott School of International Affairs and a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration and M.P.A. in Policy Evaluation and Analysis from Virginia Commonwealth University. She is responsible for collection development, research consultation and guidance, event and workshop planning, and cataloging. As a qualitative methodologist, she also provides guidance in coding and data analysis.  Her research focuses on gender and workplace discrimination in Japan as well as modern Okinawan topics.

Library Services Team 2024-2026
Billy Tringali is an Instruction Librarian at Indiana University Indianapolis. He serves as the liaison for Health Sciences, First Year Sciences, Tourism, Business, Economics, and Kinesiology. Tringali is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Anime and Manga Studies (JAMS), an open-access journal dedicated to the study of anime, manga, cosplay, and their fandoms. He additionally coordinates JAMS@AX, an academic conference that takes place inside of Anime Expo.