Posted on: Friday, February 21, 2003
Island Voices
Library services critical to society
James R. Smith is the director of the Institute for Rural Studies in Papa'aloa, Hawai'i.
I read with concern that local and even regional libraries are in danger of closure or, surviving that, severe cuts in staff and service.
Allow me to object and comment.
I am a graduate of UH-Manoa circa 1965-66 when I earned two master's degrees. I recall being informed then that graduates would always have special research privileges and that library services, public and university, would always be available to any independent scholar.
After earning a Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley and 30-odd years of professional experience on the Mainland, I took up residence and semi-retirement in a small village on the Hamakua Coast on the Big Island. To my delight, I found a school-based library with links to the statewide and university system in the nearby village of Laupahoehoe. Service was a little slow at times, but the staff was always helpful and responsive.
Thus I relied upon the Laupahoehoe School library as a basic information resource as I researched a recently published book entitled "Living and Retiring in Hawai'i: The 50th State in the 21st Century."
I am currently researching two projects (one a P-20 Initiative Lifelong Learning Program in which the library itself will play a pivotal role).
A library is the brain and memory of any culture and community going back as far as the Greeks, Egyptians, Arabs and the Asians at the dawn of civilization. It is an essential ingredient of any democratic system and it is the repository of local history.
Locally, students of all ages and of many interests use the library weekly. Laupahoehoe School students explore the links to the University of Hawai'i and even Mainland systems.
Ability to use a library readies a student for college as no single class or course can. And the facility is there and available for meetings, special projects and local resident use.
On behalf of students, scholars and readers throughout the state, I urge Gov. Lingle to provide the leadership needed in maintaining our libraries. I urge her, too, to allow the senior community to act as resource and a guide to infusing new energy into a system under stress. For example, a recycle-your-books program. How many books sit on a shelf gathering dust when they could be educating or entertaining someone?
