Aloha kākou! In honor of our program’s 60th anniversary, Governor Josh Green, M.D., proclaimed November 16-22, 2025, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library & Information Science Program Week in Hawaiʻi. To students, alumni, staff, faculty and the Hawaiʻi LIS community past, present and future, this is your celebration too. We have the deepest respect for all the work you do, and we’re honored to have been part of the LIS community for 60 years!
To start the week, we held an informal gathering in the LIS space in Hamilton Library where current students mingled with alumni from as far back as the 1960s, and enjoyed food, conversation and slideshows of decades of LIS photographs from Dr. Wertheimer’s collection!
The LIS Program was established in 1965 under the deanship of Dr. Ralph R. Shaw, and has maintained full accreditation status through the American Library Association for 60 years, graduating 1,841 students who now serve in public, school, academic and special libraries, as well as museums and archives in Hawai‘i, the continental United States and around the world. LIS graduates constitute approximately two-thirds of the professional workforce for librarians, archivists and other information professionals in the Hawai‘i, and we continue to evolve our curriculum and student experience to prepare our graduates to become compassionate, effective and reflective information professionals.
LIS is one of five Programs within the newly formed School of Communication and Information, in the College of Social Sciences. Our mission is to educate leaders in the information professions. Through research, teaching and service, we contribute to knowledge, solve problems and prepare individuals to thrive in diverse information environments, with an emphasis on Hawaiʻi and the Asia-Pacific region. Our values guide our activities, priorities and interactions, and reflect those of the State of Hawaiʻi and University of Hawaiʻi. We honor and strive to continuously deepen our understanding and practice of the Native Hawaiian values embedded in the concepts of aloha, ʻohana and kuleana.
In Governor Green’s proclamation, he “encourage[s] all residents to join in celebrating the 60th anniversary of the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoaʻs Library and Information Science Program. Mahalo to the faculty, staff, students and graduates for all you have and continue to do to bring the guiding principles of aloha, ʻohana and kuleana to the people of Hawaiʻi.”
