By Ken Ige, Star-Bulletin
Today was the first day on the job
for new state librarian Virginia Lowell.

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New librarian starts
job amid high hopes

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

Hawaii's new state librarian is ready and willing to listen and learn.

That's the message Virginia Greene Lowell hopes to project in the next few months as she meets employees at Hawaii's 49 public libraries.

Lowell's official first day on the job is today, two months after being to replace embattled state librarian Bart Kane.

Lowell was previously director of the 54-library Nassau Library System in Massapequa, N.Y., and has been director at library systems in Michigan and Ohio. She has also served as catalog manager at Cuyahoga Community College, John Carroll University and Wittenberg College.

"I find a great deal of pent-up energy here and lots of enthusiasm," said Lowell, who said she was overwhelmed by the friendliness shown by employees at four libraries she has visited since her arrival Friday. "I hope that I have said enough that gives people the impression that their ideas are important and what they say to me will be listened to."

Besides organizing her basement office in the Kekuanao'a Building across from the Hawaii State Library and figuring out how the telephones work, she has spent the last few days meeting with the Hawaii State Library Foundation, architects and mechanical engineers on the future Kapolei Library and the library's "leadership team" -- a label she hopes the team will revise.

Librarians say her comments are encouraging.

"What she's saying is very, very positive," said Al Wickens, branch manager at Waialua Library and president of the Librarians Association of Hawaii. "If she follows through on it, I think we're on the road back."

In the next few months, Lowell will focus on reviewing the internal structure of the library system and revitalizing its infrastructure, beginning with centralized cataloging.

"That will be a very visible and immediate sign of support for library staff out there," she said.

Since the termination of the Baker & Taylor book-buying contract, cataloging has operated as a temporary section until a permanent system is in place -- which librarians are looking forward to.

Wickens said he spends almost an entire day reviewing and buying books for Waialua but has no idea what neighboring Wahiawa or Mililani libraries are buying.

"There's no coordination at all," Wickens said.

Another challenge Lowell faces is getting the state to adequately fund the library system. The libraries are providing education "from birth to death" for all kinds of people, she said.

"That's our mission. It's nice to think funding would be somewhat more related to the market that we serve."

Lowell needs to find more than $1.2 million in the current budget after the Legislature failed to fund the library's supplemental budget request.

Lowell will attend her first meeting with members of the Board of Education on Aug. 20.