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WANT to see how badly we've neglected the basics in our decade of economic decline? Spend an afternoon at your local branch library browsing through the reference shelves. Our libraries need first aid
I did that last weekend when my wife had to do some research and I tagged along to kill time. I felt embarrassed for our state.
For the young, the most recent college financial aid handbook dated to 1991 and the guide to law schools was vintage 1994. For the old, the most recent guide to Social Security benefits was from 1989/90.
The latest computer buyer's guide was from 1995. A high-end system, costing $6,000, featured an Intel 486-DX4 processor running at 100 megahertz with a 340-megabyte hard drive and eight megabytes of RAM. The fastest modem available, an optional add-on, ran at 14.4 kilobits per second.
I saw an ad yesterday for a $599 system with a 433-mhz Intel processor, a 4.3-gigabyte hard drive, 32mb of RAM, a built-in 56k modem and a 15-inch monitor. For $6,000 today, I could buy a computer capable of launching the space shuttle.
Businesses needing timely information could consult the China Investment Guide of 1986 or the 1989 Corporate Finance Sourcebook. Need to bone up on foreign affairs? There's World Resources 1988. Many of the countries listed have disappeared, changed their names or overthrown their form of government.
While this information was merely useless, some of the medical references had information so outdated it was downright dangerous. I looked up a familiar disease in a reputable 1992 medical handbook. Today's leading diagnostic tool for the disease was barely mentioned, while current leading treatments weren't noted at all.
State Librarian Virginia Lowell said the problem is partly state budget cuts - the Legislature provided no money for books in the last three years - and partly the disastrous decision of the previous library administration to outsource book purchases to the mainland firm Baker & Taylor.
She said a rule of thumb in the library trade is that it takes five years to recover from every year of neglect. "It's kind of a sad state here in Hawaii," she said.
Lowell said branch libraries are encouraged to weed out obsolete reference books. But quite frankly, she said, "We don't want our shelves to look too bare."
The libraries got $75,000 to buy books from the settlement of the state's lawsuit against Baker & Taylor, but that barely made a dent in updating the collection. Lowell is seeking $4 million for books from the Legislature this year.
COMPUTERS are affecting the way libraries do business. Much up-to-date reference information is available from the Internet. You can already telnet into the Hawaii State Library to get some information by computer and the library is about to release a plan to vastly improve its digital delivery of services.
But public libraries have been a rich part of our country's heritage from the beginning and there will always be a place for bricks and mortar libraries with real books on the shelves. If legislators can talk about spending $670,000 to buy snacks for public employees, they can find a few bucks to stock their district libraries.
We can help by giving to the Friends of the Library (690 Pohukaina, Honolulu, HI 96813). Sometime when you're checking out a book, why not also drop off a useful new reference work as a donation?
Public libraries elevate a community's intelligence, spirit and humanity. Let's work together to revitalize ours.
David Shapiro is managing editor of the Star-Bulletin.
He can be reached by e-mail at editor@starbulletin.com.
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