HAWAII: THE CAT IS OUT OF THE BAG!

[Pat Wallace <DENWALL@AOL.COM>]

Responses received from members of LM_NET list re my post
on 11/14 on HAWAII GAG ORDER, with information and comments.      Pat Wallace
   Denwall@aol.com
Please respond to me directly as well as to the list.
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Subj:  Re: HAWAII GAG ORDER
Date:  Thu, Nov 14, 1996 7:11 AM EDT
From:  eletterl@ABELINK.COM
Elizabeth Letterly, District Librarian
Williamsville CUSD #15
Williamsville IL  USA 6269
Reply-to: eletterl@ABELINK.COM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
(Multiple recipients of list LM_NET)

This is terrible and sad.

Has the media taken this up?
Has ALA taken this up?

I would think that some strong letters and strong
stances need to be taken by people whose professions
are made important by the ideals freedom of speech
and the support of each community's diversity.

What about other state library directors?
Are they remaining silent?
What about the schools of librarianship;
are they silent?
This needs to be talked about and reacted to.
Librarians are supposed to support their
communities in collection development,
IMHO.
This is wrong, wrong, wrong.  I think I, for one, will be
writing to Baker & Taylor and asking for a response and
indicating my dismay.  God help us if this goes anywhere
else under a guise of a "good idea;" God help Hawaii's libraries.

Has anyone contacted the Electronic Frontier Foundation
or any others devoted to freedom of expression via electronic communication?
 This may be an issue for their strong voice.
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COMMENTS :

First of all, could you tell me more about The Electronic
Frontier Foundation and provide me with a web site url or
e-mail address?

Secondly,

 I  belong to the Social Responsibility Round Table of the ALA and that group
has an Alternatives in Print Task Force which has formed an Acquisitions
Committee ( of which I am the  Chair). We want to  gather information about
the contract with Baker & Taylor and how its execution proceeds,  with an eye
toward drawing up some sort of statement of concerns for official
ratification by ALA and also  to form the basis for a discussion of this
issue at the ALA convention in SF next summer.

Maybe if we (SSRT/APT/ACQ) are persistent enough we can bring somepressure to
bear on the situation.  We all have a stake in it.  If people just look the
other way, they--out of
ignorance--will believe Mr. Kane's hype and come to
believe that outsourcing is the magic cureall to budget
cutbacks.   Then where will librarianship be?  Down the
tubes.

This is who else is on the committee with me:

Charles Willett, Co-Coordinator, Alternatives In Print Task Force, ALA/SRRT
editor, _Counterpoise_
publisher, CRISES Press
1716 SW Williston Road, Gainesville, FL 3260

Sandy Berman, Head Cataloger in Minnesota (Hennepin Co. Lib); Chris Dodge ( a
cataloger in Sandy's department, co-editor with his wife Jan DeSirey, also a
cataloger in the same department, of Minnesota Social Responsibility Round
Table Newsletter;
Earl W. Lee ( head of Collection Management at Pittsburg State U., Pittsburg,
KS.);  and
Margaret (Peggy) D'Adamo, Media/Materials Librarian at Johns Hopkins
University, co-coordinator of the AIP task force.


If you have thoughts to share or further questions, please
e-mail me at Denwall@aol.com.
Pat Wallace
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Subj:  Re: HAWAII GAG ORDER
Date:  Thu, Nov 14, 1996 9:35 AM EDT
From:  bookworm@lightspeed.net
Robert Laramee (Bob Laramee)
Arvin High School/Arvin, CA
Reply-to: bookworm@lightspeed.net
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
(Multiple recipients of list LM_NET)

I'm sitting here wondering what it is that we, the members
of this listserv, might do in protest of what is happening
to the libraries and to the librarians in Hawaii.  It dawns
on me that

one thing we could all do is email the head librarian
and voice our protest over her dictatorial actions.

We might even want to consider action against
Baker and Taylor.

This latter move seems to me to be the wrong focus at
this time; one cannot blame the company if it is following
the guidelines and contract.

>It is at times like these when individuals feel very alone.
>If someone puts the librarian in question email addresss
>on the list, I for one, will write her an email message of
>protest.  This seems to be a logical first step.  There are
>after all some 6000 of us.

The next step would be for us to begin flooding
the mail room of the newspapers in Hawaii with
letters on what is happening to the libraries in
their state.

Food for thought.
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COMMENTS FROM PAT WALLACE:  CONTACTS LIST

I am not at liberty yet to give anyone the contact for the
librarian who sent me the account of the Gag Order.  However,
Librarians who testified at the Oct 19th Public Hearings in
Hawaii and who have led the battle to alter or rescind the
Baker & Taylor contract are:
>>>Pat Matsumoto, Hawaii State Library-Language, Literature,
and History Division
               < patm@netra.lib.state.hi.us >

>>>Sandra Kolloge, same location,
            <  sandra@netra.lib.state.hi.us >

>>>Sylvia Mitchell
   Ms. Mitchell has been in the public library system for over 20 years, as
Children's Coordinator from Kauai, HSL Young Adult Librarian and Oahu
Coordinator, and currently, branch manager of Liliha Public Library. She has
also served as HLA chair for Children & Youth, secretary of the Hawaii
Association of School Librarians, and twice president of Librarians
Association of Hawaii.

>>>>Sarah Preble
  Ms. Preble has been a librarian in the Fine Arts section of the     Hawaii
State Library since 1990. In this capacity,she reviews art books for HSL,
creates and revises bibliographies, maintains picture files, and provides
arts



The Leadership Group: With the downsizing of the HSPLS  Administration, there
is no longer a Management Team. Instead HSPLS now has a Leadership Group of
five to guide the teams and units toward a team-based organization. Members
of the Leadership Group include:

   * Bart Kane, State Librarian
   * John Penebacker, Special Assistant to the State Librarian
   * Caroline Spencer, Head Librarian, Hawaii State Library
   * Keith Fujio, MIB
   * Virginia Okamoto, HRB

An indirect way to reach either Bart Kane  (Bartholomew Kane) or
Caroline Spencer is via Joann Schindler,  librarian at the Hawaii
State Public Library who maintains  the HSPLS Home page

     http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/hspls/reos.html
     http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/hspls/reengine.html

Joann's e-mail address:   < jms@hcc.hawaii.edu >

Write to Kane or Spencer at
 The Hawaii State Library
 478 South King Street
 Honolulu, HI 9a6813-2901
Switchboard:  808-586-3500

State Librarian, Bart Kane, can be reached  directly at 808-586-3704.  Urge
him to put Hawaii's librarians back in charge of Hawaii's books.
Bartholomew A. Kane has been Hawai'i's State Librarian since 1982.
He administers the public library system and reports directly to the State
Board of Education, an elected body with jurisdiction over the HSPLS and the
Department of Education.."
Caroline Spencer was quoted in the Oct. 29th Honolulu Star-Bulletin:  "One of
the reasons for this whole deployment was to get people out on the floor,"
working with library users rather than book lists, said Hawaii State Library
manager Caroline Spencer, who is helping implement the Baker &
Taylor contract. "The book budget is terrible. It would be very
severe, very negative, very frustrating" even if the purchasing
system had continued as it was, with librarians making the choices."


Other Key People:

Mitsugi Nakashima, Chairman of the Hawaii State Board of Education, which
oversees the library system and Ms.
Kelly King   e-mail Ms. King, who is Chair of a newly formed State Committee
on Public Libraries, at
                      <keking@makani.k12.hi.us>

*************************************************
NOTE:  An official of Baker & Taylor to contact:
*************************************************
 M. Wayne McDonnell
Mr. McDonnell has been Director,  Strategy Initiatives of Baker & Taylor

Books since April 1996. His  responsibilities include the Hawaii

State Public Library System outsourcing contract. He has also been B&T's
 Director of Sales Administration and  Manager of Sales Reporting. (I don't
have e-mail address yet, but  I'm working on it).
******************************************************************************
*
Booklines Hawaii  began fulfillment under the contract before June 1. In
addition to being responsible for the procurement of Hawaiian materials,
Booklines will also be responsible for preparing each title for the library
shelves, including placement of special markings and cataloging services.
Jeff Swartz, Booklines Hawaii Vice President and General Manager, states,
"This is an innovative partnership between State government and the private
sector, an excellent example of our leaders striving to make government more
efficient."
For more information call Jeff Swartz at 808-676-0116 ext 202 or
Claudia Cannon at ext 208.  Booklines Hawaii 94-527 Pauahi St.
Waipahu Hawaii 96797.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONTACT INFORMATION FOR HAWAII PRESS:

 Richard Borreca reports on Hawaii's politics on Wednesday. Write him at the
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, 96802 or send e-mail to    <
rborreca@pixi.com. >
Other e-mail addresses for the Star-Bulletin are:
Letters to the editor   e-mail  <letters@starbulletin.com> or  to the
editor, John Flanagan  <jmf@aloha.net>
 Limit to about 200 words.  Or  FAX to 808-523-8509 .

The Honolulu Advertiser has carried many letters to the editor critical of
the B&T contract.  Contact them by snail-mail
              Jim Gatti, Editor
              The Honolulu Advertiser
              605 Kapiolani Blvd
              Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
or call for information at  808-8031/8000

Hale Pai Pacific American-News Journal.
Send mail to    <halepai@punawelewele.com>
*************************************************
Subj:  Hawaii situation
Date:  Thu, Nov 14, 1996 5:22 PM EDT
From:  fdaley@SATURN.CAPS.MAINE.EDU
Frances D. Aley
Boothbay Harbor, ME.04538
Reply-to: fdaley@SATURN.CAPS.MAINE.EDU
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
(Multiple recipients of list LM_NET)

Does anyone out there have the email addresses for
Caroline Spencer and Kane?  It strikes me that these
two are library professionals who may need to hear
the opinions of their fellow professionals
who are not "under"them and yet have every right to a
professional opinion--perhaps even hordes of us ;-)

web page address--http://www.biddeford.com/~fdaley
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Subj:  REF: Hawaii E-mail assistance. . .
Date:  Thu, Nov 14, 1996 9:20 PM EDT
From:  emoniz@CHRISTCOM.NET
Earl J. Moniz
Lillington Elementary School
Lillington, North Carolina
Reply-to: emoniz@CHRISTCOM.NET (OR)
emoniz@nccu.edu
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
(Multiple recipients of list LM_NET)

Hey folks,
here is a solution to the gag order that might work. . .

*Each one of us in support of the fight, identify ourselves
with a short message to the net...
*We will be sponsors for two or three members of the
libraries in Hawaii...
*Those Hawaiian librarians can send me their opinions
along with email addresses of the people I should send
it to...
*I put my name as the address from and send it to the
address to. . .and nothing can be done about it. . .

They can change their email addresses, but will not
know who is supplying the addresses in the first place,
so we will eventually get their new addresses. . .

If we get a scathing responses to our email messages,
we just post them as well...

We'll be the voices in the North supporting/opposing
what is happening in the South - wow!
It's dejavu all over again!

Anyone else want to help?

Aloha...   Earl J. Moniz
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At 01:48 AM 11/14/96 -0500, I wrote:
***********************************************
>Renee Olson reports in her article in the November issue of
>School Library Journal that the Honolulu Advertiser
>reported October 3rd saying:
>"internal e-mail sizzles with reviews, mostly negative,
>that say a mainland firm doesn't--and can't--have the
>knowledge to buy books for the Hawaii library market."
>She continues:  "Early in October, staff received e-mail
>from library management forbidding the use of in-house
>e-mail for discussion of book purchasing problems..."
>
>On Sunday, November 10th I got this account of that
>gag order from a librarian in Hawaii whom I will not identify:
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