RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, part of the stated mission of the Hawaii State Board of Education (BOE) is to "enable the public libraries to provide all people with the products and services necessary for literacy and life-long learning;" and

WHEREAS, accomplishing this mission involves the promotion of excellence and equity in public library services, which includes the provision of support services and collections to meet the public's recreational, informational, cultural, and educational needs; and

WHEREAS, the vision of the state librarian is to connect communities with collections; and

WHEREAS, 56,000 individuals in Hawaii identify as pure ethnic Chinese, with over 5,000 Chinese-speaking community residents; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii State Public Library annually provides additional "special needs" funding to purchase Chinese materials to meet the needs of this under-served group; and

WHEREAS, over the span of a decade, the Liliha public library Chinese language collection has become a state-wide magnet collection that offers over 4,000 adult and youth volumes, hundreds of multi-media items, at an annual circulation of 20,000; and

WHEREAS, there is no official position within the Hawaii State Public Library System that assists in the selection and cataloguing of popular Chinese language materials, making them available statewide; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Education create a new Library Technician V position which will build upon and support the heavily-frequented Liliha Chinese magnet collection while providing resource help needed to serve the needs of users statewide; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Superintendent of Education.

Report Title:

Libraries; Chinese Language Collection