Come Thursday, librarian Patricia Lognion expects to have a few new books on her shelves, thanks to the Friends of the Wahiawa Library. Libraries will have
a few new books soonShe and other librarians across the state have been purchasing new materials with money provided by their Friends since state Librarian Bart Kane terminated the Baker & Taylor contract in June.
An immediate plan to bring new books into the libraries remains on hold until the Hawaii Government Employees Association, the union representing library employees, has a chance to respond to concerns about the proposed plan.
The process is taking longer than expected because the union has to ask for and review employee feedback on the immediate plan and the proposed short- and long-term plans to bring new materials into the libraries, said Randy Perreira, HGEA spokesman.
Most members appear to support the immediate plan but are concerned with aspects of the short- and long-term plan that may involve privatization, he said.
Although Kane can go ahead with the immediate plan as presented to the Board of Education on Aug. 21, he is required by law to give the union sufficient time to consult with its members and hear their concerns.
"We don't actually have to agree with their issues but we have to allow a reasonable amount of time to formally communicate to us their concerns," said John Penebacker, special assistant to Kane.
The library administration expects no significant resistance to the plan since it was employee-generated, Penebacker said.
Under the immediate plan, librarians statewide were expecting to begin purchasing books using state money beginning Aug. 25. They were asked to hold off until the union responded.
Lognion doesn't mind waiting."We would like to be getting at it faster but at the same time, we have been left out of consultations or steamrolled for so long that if the union is willing to get in there and straighten it out with our needs and feelings in mind, I'm willing to wait," she said.
Librarians continue to fill the gaps in their collections by purchasing new books when supplemental money is available or from loans from other libraries.
Librarians also have kept busy going over book reviews and making lists of titles they would like to purchase with state money once they get the go-ahead.
By Frankie Stapleton, special to the Star-Bulletin
Firefighters clean up at the old Haina mill yesterday.
HONOKAA -- Personnel records of former employees of the bankrupt Hamakua Sugar Co. have been destroyed in a fire at the old Haina Mill office, which burned to the ground Sunday night. Hamakua mill fire destroys
employee recordsLocated next to what was the last operating mill on the Hamakua Coast until it shut down in 1993, the office was still being used by the Hamakua company bankruptcy trustees. It contained personnel records of the sugar plantation's former employees.
The only things left standing were the building's concrete steps and a brick vault built in 1903. The records are in ashes.
But John Goss, a trustee handling the Hamakua Sugar bankruptcy, said the destruction of personnel records should not affect Sunday's settlement vote scheduled by the ILWU on behalf of its former bargaining unit employees.
"Our records are offloaded onto diskettes and stored in metal cabinets in the vault every night, so this should not affect our ability to come to an agreement Sunday," he said.
Two arson attempts, one last week and an earlier blaze several months ago, apparently burned themselves out without causing any real damage. Those fires were limited to the exterior of the building, according to officials.
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Police/Fire
By Star-Bulletin staffPolice are searching for a man who robbed a taxi driver this morning at a University of Hawaii dormitory. Taxi driver held
at knifepointPolice said at 3 a.m., a 56-year-old taxi driver picked up a man at the Kuakini Street 7-Eleven store. The suspect asked the driver to take him to the UH high-rise, Hale Wainani.
At the dorm, the suspect put a knife to the driver's throat and demanded money. The driver pulled the knife from his neck and yelled for help, police said. The suspect ran off into the dorm area leaving the knife behind.
Police said the driver was treated for a one-inch cut to his left hand.
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