Hawaii: The Latest News

[Pat Wallace <DENWALL@AOL.COM>]

If  list members want to know the latest from Hawaii, this is it.  This holds
the potential for leading, ultimately to Bart Kane's removal from office, but
since he
seems to be a cat with nine lives, I am not laying down bets.  Pat W.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>From: Pat Wallace   (DENWALL@aol.com)
Chair, Hawaii Working Group
>Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1997
>Subject: Recent Developments in Hawaii

>Let's not forget that the Hawaii story is not over.  I am sharing two recent
>developments which I think will keep you informed.

>First:
>News re a successful judgement for Carl Corporation against the Hawaii
>State Public Library System.

>Second:
>Reflections on privitizations effects on Hawaii by two public librarians
>there.
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Taken from HSPLS Web page
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*"Plan Would Let Librarians Buy Books From Any Vendor: The proposal was
worked out from input by 70 staffers from the state's public libraries"
 by Debra Barayuga, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, August 8, 1997, p. A3

*August 22, 1997: The Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that "State Librarian
Bart Kane acted in 'bad faith' last year in prematurely awarding a
$595,453-a-year contract to improve and manage the library system's
computers...." The Court said in its 71-page opinion: "Kane's disregard
of the mandate of clearly applicable law, as well as the specific
directions of [State Procurement Officer Lloyd] Unebasami, was, at best,
reckless.... In his zeal to have the project completed before the end of
the legislative session, Kane prematurely awarded the contract in
violation of law, effectively restricting CARL's opportunity to
participate in a fair solicitation should it prevail on its protest. We
therefore hold that Kane's conduct was in bad faith." [p. 5] ["Librarian
Faulted on Computer Contract: High court finds 'bad faith' in actions"
by Ken Kobayashi, Honolulu Advertiser, August 23, 1997, p. A1, A5]

*"Librarian Faulted on Computer Contract: High court finds 'bad faith'
in actions" by Ken Kobayashi, Honolulu Advertiser, August 23, 1997, p.
A1, A5

*August 25, 1997: Although library staff were supposed to begin
purchasing materials from local book stores and directly from publishers
beginning today, State Librarian Bart Kane announced in the afternoon
that staff would not be able to proceed with this "immediate" phase of
the Selection/Acquisition Systems Plan until the Hawaii Government
Employees Association (HGEA) had sufficient opportunity to review
employee concerns.

Return to HSPLS Home Page or Reengineering and Outsourcing
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Last updated 8-27-97 by Jo Ann Schindler, HSPLS, who can be
contacted at jms@hcc.hawaii.edu
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http://www.hgea.org/news/pe/pe970900spotlight.html
Librarians Voice Their Concerns Privatization Has Hurt Service in Public
Libraries
September 1997

HGEA--THE PUBLIC EMPLOYEE
*September 1997
*Spotlight on People - Librarians voice their concerns
*Randall T. Kusaka, Public Information Officer

Mahalo,
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Privatization casts its shadow over union members from many sectors. But
few privatization cases have aroused public opinion like the State of
Hawaii's contract with Baker & Taylor to catalog and purchase books for
the public libraries. Legislators, government officials and State
Librarian Bart Kane have all aired their opinions in the news media, but
librarians have seldom been consulted. The Public Employee visited
Liliha Public Library and spoke with two librarians, both Unit 13
members, for their side of the story.

Sylvia Mitchell, Librarian, Liliha Library :

"When you outsource certain functions, jobs are taken away from Hawaii
to the Mainland. That means less jobs here, less money being spent by
people who would have been in the outsourced jobs, buying groceries,
paying taxes, etc. It negatively affects the economy. This is never
taken into account, but it is an important point. I agree we need to do
what we can to save money, but what's come out of this 'experiment' is
very inferior service for Hawaii's libraries. No bargain there!

"We were 'sold' into the grasp of Baker and Taylor, a huge book-buying
conglomerate, based on the idea that big business can do everything
quicker, better, faster and cheaper. It was done with little
consideration for what public libraries actually do and the quality of
service provided.

"Take education for example. As the major 'provider' for school
assignments we have very specific needs. In addition, we buy materials,
which will tempt children to want to read and keep them coming back for
more. Kids can't wait three years while we dilly dally with trial and
error contracts. Between grade 4 and 7, lifetime reading habits are
often established, but not much attractive to tempting 'book bait' has
come from Baker & Taylor. The desirable books were provided in limited
numbers, often only 14 copies for the entire state! From the day they
took over, it has been downhill all the way! Auwe!

"Hawaii desperately needs a strong library system, and we will not
continue to have one if we outsource. Here, you don't have the option of
driving to another county if the library doesn't have the books you
want. We're an island. We need to return to a scaled down version of our
original support services.

"We get hundreds of valuable books given to us, but we can't use them
because we have only one official cataloger remaining out of the
original staff of nine. The backlog grows daily. A cataloging team of
four librarians and two assistants might be able to cope with our local
cataloging needs. They are the ones who know best what is needed. "I'm
happy that HGEA filed a suit against Baker & Taylor. The remedy I'd like
to see is a completely reconfigured public library system designed by
the employees who know what needs to be done and have the experience to
make it happen. I'm sure we can be more cost-effective than outsiders."

Nola Morgan, Librarian, Liliha Library

"If I do a job as a civil service employee, I don't have to make a
profit. But if a private company can do the same job and make a profit,
then they must be paying their people sub-standard wages. Librarians
(and other civil service workers) are trained to provide service, not to
make a profit. So service will suffer if you privatize.

"I do think we need unions. Otherwise, we'd be like the folks in North
Carolina (Baker & Taylor's headquarters), getting smaller wages and few
if any benefits. The union defends us to make sure that we are treated
fairly.

"I'd hate to see the state continue to privatize more and more jobs now
being done by civil service workers. Not only would this put more Hawaii
folks out of jobs, but the services now provided by dedicated state
workers will deteriorate when the emphasis is on profit. There may be a
few public services that could be contracted out, but those services
should be examined very closely before that is done. What affects civil
service employees also affects the public and the services they
receive."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hawaii Government Employees Association
AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO
888 Mililani St., Suite 601 Honolulu, HI 96813-2991
Phone:(808) 536-2351 Fax:(808) 528-4059 email:help@hgea.org
Russell K. Okata, Executive Director
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