Over seventy alumni and students of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Library and Information Science (LIS) Program gathered on November 16th to mark the program’s 60th anniversary. The event was the start of UH Mānoa Library & Information Science Program Week in Hawaiʻi, commemorated with an official proclamation by Governor Josh Green, M.D.
In the proclamation, the governor “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.”
LIS is one of five programs in the School of Communication and Information, within the College of Social Sciences. Established in 1965 under the leadership of Dr. Ralph R. Shaw, the program’s graduates constitute two-thirds of librarians, archivists, and other information professionals working in Hawai‘i. The program has maintained full accreditation status through the American Library Association for 60 years. It has graduated 1,841 students who now serve in public, school, academic, special libraries, archives, and museums in the United States and around the world.
The LIS program has a special focus on Hawaiʻi and the Asia-Pacific region. In following the overall goals of the State of Hawaiʻi and University of Hawaiʻi, the program strives to deepen students’ understanding and practice of Native Hawaiian values through the lens of information professions.
Both faculty and student research has focused on local concerns and history. Dr. Andrew Wertheimer and Dr. Noriko Asato investigated how the exclusion of Japanese immigrants from local libraries contributed to the rise of Japanese bookstores and a rich Japanese print culture in Hawaiʻi. Professor Keahiahi Long recently gave the keynote address at the annual Hawaiʻi Library Association conference on her work as a co-investigator for Ka Wai Hāpai, a project that strives to co-create Hawaiian language controlled vocabularies and a Hawaiian knowledge organization system.
The program endeavors to prepare their students to meet new challenges concerning AI, digitization of physical collections, indigenous data sovereignty, and rising risks to information privacy and security. The program takes pride in teaching students to listen and center their communities in their academic and professional work.
To learn more about the program, visit the Library and Information Science.
Additional photos from LIS alumni gathering: https://share.google/80AVaER5CigrtvkHT