Library cutbacks dismay patrons
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
The community greeted with dismay the news that public library hours and services would be cut as Hawai'i's budget crunch forces Gov. Linda Lingle to trim 5 percent from discretionary money in all state departments.
"Anything to do with encouraging kids to read is a priority," said Jamie Gallo Lee, who counts on evening and weekend library hours for her 10-year-old son's school research projects and the thrill of seeing her 2-year-old pick books off the shelf.
Under the tough-minded new cutbacks required of state librarian Virginia Lowell, there will be a loss of about 10 percent in hours in the statewide 50-library system, said administrative services officer Keith Fujio. The Bookmobile program will be discontinued and the materials budget reduced for all libraries.
Fujio said it was the first cutback in hours he could recall, but it hits the beleaguered library system hard after years of belt-tightening and threatened reductions in service. Other high-profile problems include a new library in Kapolei without any books.
Medium and large libraries will be required to go to 40-hour weeks — some are currently open 50 to 60 hours — or one shift per weekday and closed on weekends. But those daily shifts will be flexible according to the needs of each library, Lowell said.
"They're not limited to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.," she said. "A library might say we have our best foot traffic from 9 to 5 on Monday and 10 to 6 on Tuesday. We tell them, 'When you revise your schedules, do it in concert with the library down the road so people do have a fall-back.'
"But certainly, during some of the hours when somebody wants to be there, the library's not going to be open," Lowell said. "And it's not just the people using the library at night. The library staff are also answering reference questions for people around the state, packing up books during those hours to send to other libraries, handling intra-library loans."
As patrons digested the news last week — Hawai'i has 800,000 library card holders — concern mixed with resignation in the quiet confines of Manoa Public Library, where retirees were catching up on newspaper reading, children were leafing through books after school and college students had come to search the Internet free of charge.
Natasha Wong, a 21-year-old employee at Manoa Valley Shopping Center, feels the changes will be "an inconvenience for most people." Though she's able to stop in during the day, most of her friends depend on the libraries' after-school or evening hours.
It will mean 76-year-old retiree Wellington Chu must rearrange his daily reading schedule, which takes him to a different library each evening to pore over histories and keep his mind alert.
"If you break your arm, it will repair," Chu said. "But if your brain starts going, you don't get it back." He feels fortunate to have the flexibility to change his schedule — something those with regular jobs can't do.
For Dori Waiau, 28, the changes will mean no more fast Internet connection or evening study hours for her work toward a teaching certificate. Waiau chooses the public library over University of Hawai'i libraries because she finds the Internet connections faster.
"I might have to start visiting an (Internet) cafe," she said. "The closer they are to the university, the higher the cost," raising the price of every bit of research, she said.
The cutbacks also could mean an end to the weekly storytime, where Waiau brings her 2-year-old niece every week. Lowell said it's not known yet whether library schedules can be rearranged to accommodate the popular story sessions for young children.
Union contracts require three or more weeks of notification for any schedule change, so the cuts may not go into effect until mid-February or later, Lowell said.
But the Bookmobiles stationed on O'ahu and Neighbor Islands will end, and with them direct, immediate access to library books for prisoners on every island as well as children in rural communities.
"That's a big issue on Maui," said Lowell. "Those are the people that have benefitted."
As for the fledgling Kapolei Library, known for its empty shelves, it will continue to be open just a few hours a week, Lowell said.
Another $24,000 will be spent through the end of this fiscal year, and the library is still on track to get $1.7 million next year.
"The budget director assured us the request will be in for next year to open it as a complete library," Lowell said.
Library staff already have been looking for ways to boost revenues beyond the $1.2 million collected annually in fines and extra services.
"We've been looking at all kinds of alternate revenue schemes, such as pay for services, or pay for making copies or for a library card," said Fujio. "If someone downloads from the Internet now, we don't charge, and we provide the paper, the toner cartridge, the printer. We've wanted to look at user charges."
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
