ANNOUNCEMENT FROM ALA/SRRT/AIP: Hawaii Working Group

[Pat Wallace <DENWALL@AOL.COM>]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE,   Monday, January 6, 1997
Peggy D'Adamo and Charles Willett, co-chairs, ALA/SRRT/AIP

ALA GROUP TO PUBLISH A BOOK AND PRESENT A PROGRAM
CRITICIZING THE HAWAII STATE LIBRARY SYSTEM'S OUTSOURCING
CONTRACT WITH BAKER & TAYLOR.

The Alternatives in Print Task Force (AIP) of the American Library
Association's Social Responsibilities Round Table (SRRT) has formed a
nucleus, the Hawaii Working Group, to gather facts and opinions from all
points of view about the five-year, outsourcing contract signed in 1996 by
the Hawaii State Library System and Baker & Taylor, Inc.  Early in 1997
the group plans to publish a book of readings from the contract and from
news reports, Internet discussions, and other sources in order to acquaint
librarians and the public with the many issues raised by this controversial
agreement, which privatizes collection development and cataloging for the
entire Hawaii public library system.

On Sunday, June 29th at the ALA annual conference in San Francisco, the
group will present a two-hour panel discussion on the Hawaii Public
Libraries' outsourcing agreement with Baker & Taylor.  Other ALA units
and related organizations are invited to co-sponsor this program.

The Hawaii Working Group is led by Patricia (Pat) Wallace, a teacher in one
of the two Montessori Magnet Schools in the Dallas Public Schools and an
MLIS graduate student at Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas.  She
holds Master's degrees in both Sociology and Education and has taught
continuously at  the college and elementary school levels over the past 30
years. Pat is chair of the Hawaii Working Group. Other members of the group
include Sanford Berman, Peggy D'Adamo, Chris Dodge, Yvonne Farley,
Earl Lee, Laurel Indalecio, Carol Reid,  Jan DeSirey, and Charles Willett.

The Hawaii Working Group welcomes information and comment about the
HSLS/B&T contract.  Contact Pat Wallace at 532 Shennandoah Drive,
DeSoto, TX 75115; e-mail: DENWALL@aol.com.