Hawaii to Complete One Library,
Others in Jeopardy
The Hawaii Senate Ways and Means Committee approved $1 million in emergency funds February 22 for books and furnishings for a new branch library in Kapolei, now in the final stages of construction. However, State Librarian Virginia Lowell warned that budget cuts of 4% or more requested by the legislature could force other branches to close.
“The libraries we would choose to close will be chosen on the basis of geographic location, usage, circulation—those kinds of criteria which the Kapolei Library will much better meet than some of our current operations,” Lowell said in the February 23 Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Lowell said she is also requesting $1.7 million in supplemental funds to keep the library running and staffed for one year prior to its planned opening as the Hawaii State Public Library System’s second largest branch in July 2003.
“It takes 12 to 18 months to build a circulation to sustain a library that size,” Lowell said of the 35,000-square-foot facility. “We’re looking to open with 60,000 volumes on the shelves [and] 5,000 videos,” she told the Star-Bulletin.
The emergency funding must still be approved by the full Senate and House.
Posted March 4, 2002.
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