Hawaii Auditor Criticizes State Librarian Kane and Board

Staff -- Library Journal, 2/2/1998

A management review by Hawaii state auditor Marion Higa has criticized State Librarian Bart Kane for failing to "successfully plan and implement" reform efforts to address budget cuts. Kane responded, according to the Honolulu Advertiser, by calling the audit unfair and inaccurate. The report also said the state Board of Education, which oversees the library, did not effectively monitor the reforms. The report noted that Kane's unprecedented outsourcing of book selection to vendor Baker & Taylor--now in litigation--had apparently not saved the system any money, in that the costs of buying, cataloging, and delivering a book, contractually stipulated at $20.94, were estimated to be $37.93 for the first year and $25.85 for the remaining years. Kane faces a performance evaluation from the board this month as well as a financial audit by Higa.