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Forward from Patricia D. Wallace, Chair, Hawaii Working Group (ALA Social Responsibility Round Table /Alternatives in Print Division) SLIS graduate student, Texas Women's University Denwall@aol.com The following is the second in a series of posts from librarians in Hawaii which I am sharing with all of you and which I hope will help answer some of the many questions I continue to get regarding the details of the contract between Baker & Taylor and all Hawaii State Public Libraries. [P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P] [P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P] [P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P] From: "Deborah Gutermuth" <gutent@hgea.org> Kaneohe Public Library Reference/AV Librarian, Oahu, HI To: "Patricia Wallace" <DENWALL@aol.com> cc: "Laurel L. Indalecio" <laindale@leahi.kcc.hawaii.edu> Subject: Hawaii Outsourcing Date: Jan 6, 1997 Rep. Marshall Ige's office has been in contact with many of us, to gather facts to present to the Legislature upon opening at the end of January. Other State Senators and Representatives have asked for "details, facts and figures" to try and understand our problems. We are hoping they will call for an audit of the B&T contract by the State Auditor, Ms. Marion Higa. She is known for coming down hard on people who try to be underhanded and/or waste the State's money. Legislatively, this would be our best bet - let her light shine on this "sweetheart" contract, and show Bart Kane for who he really is. It might even embarrass our Board of Education, that they let such a poorly written contract go out under their O.K. Were I one of them, I'd be ashamed! We Librarians face almost 5 more years of this farce unless someone with aLOT more power than we have gets serious about this contract. --It has no return clause for unwanted (and unneeded) choices, --does not HOLD them to any accountability standards of performance, but merely states "goals", which are not binding. --This, combined with not being able to catalog internally, though all of us took the cataloging course, and know how to use Marc records, puts Hawaii's Librarians and Libraries in terrible jeopardy. --There are gaping holes in our reference section which will never be filled --And it gets worse by the day! Bart wrote in the contract that 3% of the monies were spent on reference. In our library it was more like 20%. The difference is astounding. We have no "older car" Kelly Blue Book newer than Dec.1995. We almost didn't get the ones for Newer cars! This item is used EVERY day-yet is just one example of the gaping holes we are beginning to experience. It's not a matter of low funding! We could live with that. It happens to us all. But aren't you just that much more careful of the little you have to spend? Now all choice is out of our hands, and we get multiple copies of books we don't need, and cheap paperback reprints of hardback fiction we already have, instead of fewer but quality books used by most of our patrons. We are a Regional Library - yet we are getting 1(one) new encyclopedia this year! We are the reference library for the whole windward side of Oahu, serving 3 institutions of higher learning, Adult School classes, Military Base Classes, 2 High Schools, and numerous intermediate, elementary, and private schools. We are open 7 days a week. If we are so important, why can't we choose the books we need? Hoping this gives you a little background on our problems, I remain... Deborah Gutermuth [P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P] [P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P] [P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P][P]