Public Testimony in Hawaii

[Pat Wallace <DENWALL@AOL.COM>]

Forwarded by Patricia Wallace, Chair of The Hawaii
Working Group.   denwall@aol.com
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Subject: Testimony at Hawaii Senate Public Hearing,
        Thursday, February 13, 1997
From: Stephanie Strickland <steph@netra.lib.state.hi.us>
To: Hawaii Working Group
Date: Sun, Feb 16, 1997

Every dollar counts in lean economic times.  The economic reality of the
B&T contract is that far too many dollars are wasted on materials which
are inferior in content and paperback instead of hardbound.  I will
provide examples of this waste of taxpayer money.  Before I do, I would
like you to consider the following.

(1)  B&T, prior to this 5 1/2 contract, sold the majority of materials to our

library system at  a 40% discount.  They made a profit then, and the
profit is even greater now.

(2)  B&T makes an even greater profit by selling each item to the library
system at $20.94.

(3)  B&T would like you to believe that a mix of materials, both small
and large priced items, were purchased -- everything balances out.

(4)  B&T would like you to believe they purchased duplicate materials
only because they did not have access to our database, and librarians
used Friends' money to purchase current bestsellers.

(5)  B&T would like you to believe that their selectors, who do not live
or work in Hawaii, are qualified to select materials for our libraries.

(Demonstration.  I held up $400.00 worth of B&T children's paperbacks.
I  showed duplicates of children's books.  We had the hardbound; and
they  purchased the paperbound.)

Did  B&T select equal numbers of low cost items in order to purchase
higher priced items for Hawaii's libraries?  The data below was collected
from packing slips covering September through December 1996.

Number of Units        B&T cost @     Number of Units     B&T Cost @
$5 or Below Retail    $20.94/Unit    $30.00 or + Retail   $20.94/Unit

Waikiki-Kapahulu
        163                $3413.22                  16              $335.04
HSPL-Statewide
       4825             $101,035.50            455                    $9527.70

No items were sent to Waikiki that exceeded $60.00 retail.

Did B&T provide new  materials for Hawaii's libraries? Pat Matsumoto
of the Hawaii State Library has documented that  from B&T shipping lists
that state taxpayers paid for:

        6,406 duplicate units at a total cost of $134,142.00

Duplicate units are items already owned by the library.  The libraries
already have 7,170 copies of the above units on the shelves.

B&T would like the taxpayers, Board of Education, and State Legislators
to believe that librarians went out and spent $134,142 of Friends' money
on current bestsellers.  Not possible!

The following statistics adequately describe duplicate units purchased by
B&T:

(1)  Fifty percent (50%) were paperbacks ranging from $2.99 to $12.95
retail.  Remember one thing.  B&T does not pay retail prices for units.

(2)  B&T duplicates range in copyright date from 1908 to 1996.  The chart
I have prepared shows far too many units that were purchased were written
before the last few months of 1995 when Hawaii's libraries ceased
purchasing materials.  Duplicate materials in the children's section are
particularly devastating.

The librarians of Hawaii want you to understand that:

(1)  There are 146 public librarians on the state's payroll.  These
librarians are eminently qualified to select materials for Hawaii's
libraries based on their education, Masters' Degree in Library and
Information Studies, and their years of experience working with Hawaii's
material collections and customers.

(2)  Your public librarians would never purchase $134, 142 worth of
duplicate materials.  We understand that every unit purchased should
add something of value to our customers and collections.

(3)  Your public librarians select materials for content and durability.
Time spent in selection ensures the public that taxpayer money will
be spent on high quality materials that will pass standards of durability.

B&T is charging us $20.94 per unit.  Is this fair?  Consider this:

(1)  B&T uses about $0.30 PER UNIT, retail on processing supplies --
labels, plastic covers, etc.

(2)  B&T catalogs, or downloads cataloging from another source, only
one time per title.  If B&T provides 244 units of one title, it is cataloged
once, not 244 times.

(3)  Is this contract an innovative way to provide materials for Hawaii's
libraries?  Do we get more books for the buck?  I think not!

That's it for today
Stephanie
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