EDITORIAL
A reading room does not a library make

It's nice that the new Kapolei Library now has a reading room, and we applaud the aloha spirit of the volunteers who will keep the place open two days a week, and those who donated books.

But let's call it what it is: a token.

With all due respect, a reading room isn't a library. It's like Makiki Library, which opened 25 years ago without the funding for staff and a real book collection.

The building has since morphed into a community reading room run by volunteers and equipped with a hodge-podge collection of 15,000 uncatalogued, donated books.

Again, it's "nice," but it's not enough.

Furthermore, that could be the fate of the $8 million, 30,000-square-foot Kapolei Library if the Legislature doesn't cough up some real money.

State Librarian Virginia Lowell estimates it will cost $1.7 million for 24 staff and a 60,000-volume book collection. That's what it costs to equip and run the second-largest library in the state.

Lowell's initial refusal to take charity in the form of donated books was regarded by some as graceless. But let's face it, you have to be a pitbull to get money for public amenities in this state. You can't be passive.

Last year, the Legislature approved $267,000, enough to pay for five staff but no books.

And in his final budget, Cayetano included $3.1 million for positions and expenses to "make Kapolei Library operational."

The ball is now in the court of Gov. Linda Lingle and the state Legislature.

We hope they don't drop it by claiming poverty, because Kapolei will never be a real town until it gets some fundamental amenities.