#about
About this Guide
This guide offers a variety of starting points for research on AANHPI culture. Such a guide may be a helpful resource, because there are many ways into the study of this area. In fact, even queuing up a search of the catalog is complicated, because searching one general term such as “Asian American” yields rather different results than another such term, like “Pacific Islander.” Both of these search terms deliver results rather different from what searching specific areas of Asian American culture brings up. Access Video on Demand and Kanopy offer streaming video, audio and film on a broad variety of topics and themes, including areas such as Asian American cultures and identities.
This guide brings together a curated collection of books, websites, films, educator resources and past programs. It aims to facilitate the same kind of discoveries as may be found in the library’s physical space. It also provides a brief discussion of AANHPI Heritage Month as a time when the library places a special emphasis on AANHPI culture in its events and collections. For events held at the library during May, 2025, see the library’s AANHPI Heritage Month brochure.
#learn
Learn about AANHPI Heritage
See below for lists of nonfiction and fiction geared toward adult readers and centered around the experiences and perspectives of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.
For teens and kids below are lists of books that highlight AANHPI history, culture and experiences.
Online resources include:
- Commemorations and celebrations from the National Park Service
- Facts for features from the U.S. Census Bureau
- Special topics page from the National Archives News
- AAPI New Jersey, a nonprofit representing Asian American and Pacific Islander families
- NEH projects exploring Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander experience
#educators
Resources for Educators
The materials below offer starting points for engaging learners. You’ll find lesson plans, digital tools and more.
- Teacher resources collected by federal cultural agencies
- Teacher’s guide from the National Endowment for the Humanities
- Toolkit and professional development resources from Learning for Justice
- Resources from the Anti-Defamation League
- Teacher’s guide from Studies Weekly
- Resources from the National Education Association
- Collected resources from Facing History and Ourselves
#programs
Past Programs at the Library
Past programs held at the library and still relevant to AANHPI culture are available on the library’s YouTube channel. Featured below are a few particularly notable recent programs, which continue to have significant relevance.
This recording explores the influences and contributions of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in U.S. History from the 19th through mid-20th centuries. Materials from The New York Historical‘s free curriculum guides, “Women & the American Story,” “Chinese American: Exclusion/Inclusion” and “Our Composite Nation: Frederick Douglass’ America” reveal the the resilience and strength of AAPI communities.
Members of Make Us Visible NJ speak about the organization and its successful effort to mandate teaching Asian American and Pacific Islander history in New Jersey’s public schools. Presented in partnership with Princeton Public Library, Bergenfield Public Library, East Brunswick Public Library, Hoboken Public Library, LibraryLinkNJ, Livingston Public Library, Maplewood Memorial Library, MentorNJ, Newark Public Library, New Jersey Library Association Diversity & Outreach Committee, New Jersey Association of School Librarians, Not In Our Town Princeton, Pennsauken Free Public Library, Ridgewood Public Library, Trenton Free Public Library and Union City Public Library.
In this recording panelists give an update about implementation of New Jersey’s AAPI curriculum mandate, AAPI professional development opportunities and tips on educational advocacy.
#month
AANHPI Heritage Month
May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. In 1978, Congress passed, and President Jimmy Carter signed, a resolution designating an Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week in May. Presidents renewed the week annually over the next decade. Congress expanded the observance from a week to a month in 1990, before passing a law in 1992 designating a permanent annual Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month. President Joe Biden changed the name of the month to Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month starting with his 2021 proclamation. May was selected for two reasons: to commemorate the first known arrival of Japanese immigrants in the United States and to mark the completion of the transcontinental railroad by a workforce consisting of many immigrants from China.
This heritage month highlights a broad and diverse group, with members including “all of the Asian continent and the Pacific islands of Melanesia (New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands), Micronesia (Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia) and Polynesia (New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Easter Island).”
This heritage month thus offers an opportunity to explore the stories and perspectives of Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Americans. The library strives to include such topics in programming and content throughout the year; this month nevertheless serves as a chance to focus our efforts. For events held at the library during May 2025, see the library’s AANHPI Heritage Month brochure.
Content made possible with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this resource does not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.