State libraries
will beef up
Internet service

A contract for a new
computer system will be
put out for bids

By Craig Gima
Star-Bulletin

Library patrons will get improved Internet service now that a controversial contract to manage the state library's computer system has been canceled and a contract for a new system will be put out to bid, state Librarian Virginia Lowell says.

Lowell, beginning her second month on the job, canceled the 5-1/2-year contract with Ameritech Library Services yesterday.

The awarding of the $595,453-a-year contract to Ameritech in 1996 sparked a lawsuit by a competing vendor, CARL Corp.

Last year, the state Supreme Court ruled that former state Librarian Bart Kane acted in bad faith in awarding the contract to Ameritech.

Lowell said the decision to cancel the contract "unties our hands so now I can go forward to doing what I need to do to get the system up and running again."

She said lawyers for the two companies were at an impasse in trying to settle the dispute.

"We're disappointed with the termination, but at the same time we understand the position of the librarian," said Lawrence Reifurth, the lawyer for Ameritech.

Lawyers for CARL could not be reached for comment.

Ameritech has indicated a williness to keep operating the system until a vendor is selected and a new system is in place, Lowell said.

The process to put together a request for proposals and install a new system could take as little as seven months, she estimated.

"The whole bottom line is the patrons and the staff of the libraries should not be negatively impacted in any way," she said.

Because of improvements in technology since the library computer system contract was awarded, Lowell believes a new system will be more advanced.

For example, Internet access at libraries now is mostly limited to text-only. The new system should have graphics capability and more access to on-line reference resources.

Before coming to Hawaii, Lowell was in charge of installing computer systems at library systems in Ohio and Michigan.

Lowell estimates it will cost the state library at least $100,000 just in staff time and effort to come up with a request for proposals for the new system.

She wants to involve librarians in developing the requirements.

"They're the ones that used these functions and they're the ones that have knowledge of whether this particular software piece worked or didn't work," she said.

Francis McMillen, chairman of the Public Library Committee of the Board of Education, agreed with Lowell's decision to cancel the contract.

"It will make it easier for the library system to continue its work and get it out from under this cloud of whether this contract was legal or not," he said.

The cancellation of the contract does not end the litigation between the state and CARL to recover costs and attorney's fees, but does remove the library system from the lawsuit, McMillen said.