Arnie Wight, senior vice president of Baker & Taylor, yesterday told the Board of Education's blue ribbon review panel that three state librarians now meet weekly with its subcontractor, Booklines Hawaii, to review possible selections.

After the meeting, Wight told reporters the three local librarians will play a major role in selecting 2,700 titles.

Wight said the other change in the controversial 5-1/2-year contract is that local librarians have been given the chance to select 10,000 titles that could not be bought during the 1995-96 allocation.

He said "we will continue to make adjustments that are allowable."

The panel has been charged by the school board to determine whether Baker & Taylor is fulfilling its $11.2 million contract to be the sole purchaser of books for the state libraries. The report is due by the end of June.

But librarians, like Sarah Preble, aren't convinced that state librarian Bart Kane made the proper choice in selecting Baker & Taylor.

Besides taking away their traditional job of selecting books, local librarians say, the book-buying company's choices have been inappropriate and there have been many duplicate titles.

Preble told the panel that "Baker & Taylor misrepresented its expertise," pointing out that she could made better selections than the 18 titles her library received.

She said that one of this year's better reviewed books, "Art History" by Marilyn Stokstad, was not purchased by Baker & Taylor. "Instead, we received 'Art of the Roman Empire,' which has received negative reviews."

Preble also criticized that the contract calls for only 3 percent of purchases for reference books. In the past it has been 14 percent to 31 percent of the library's budget.

"These items are like your mortgage and electric bills. They are the basics," she said.

Rod McPhee, representing the Friends of the Library, questioned how the company could make money by setting a unit price of $20.94 for every book it purchases.

"The public's perception is that you are unloading inexpensive paperback books and buying only a few higher priced ones."

But Wight said the fixed unit price was sought by the state, and he declined to reveal his company's profit margin.

The panel, which will have its next meeting at 10 a.m. April 15 at Liliha Library, has been charged only with reviewing the performance of Baker & Taylor.

Wight and a team from Baker & Taylor will meet this week with librarians from 30 of the state's 49 branches on Oahu, Kauai, Maui and the Big Island.