Stacey Aldrich

Stacey Aldrich, Hawaii’s new state librarian, took a different path from the one that she thought she would be taking when she was a college student in Pennsylvania.

“I wanted to be a Slavic cataloger at the Library of Congress,” said Aldrich, who laughed on Monday at the memory of that aspiration. “As you can see, I did not land there.”

Alrich said she had decided on that goal while working as an assistant to the Slavic cataloger of the University of Pittsburgh, while earning her bachelor’s degree there in Russian language and literature.

“Then I rolled right into library school (also at the University of Pittsburgh),” she said, earning a master’s degree in library science in 1992.

Since then, jobs held by Aldrich include information technology librarian at Hood College in Frederick, Md.; a library executive with Maryland’s Department of Education; senior associate at a futurist think tank in Washington, D.C., and assistant director of the Omaha Public Library. She was named California state librarian in 2009, and from 2012 through March, was deputy secretary for the Office of Commonwealth Libraries of Pennsylvania.

Aldrich started as Hawaii’s state librarian on April 6, after being hired by the state Board of Education to take over from Richard Burns, who retired at the end of last year.

In 2003, Aldrich was named by Library Journal as one of the top 55 professionals “who are shaping the future of libraries,” and in 2012 was bestowed the LINK AMERICAS Foundation Knowledge Award, for “vision and leadership in the area of digital literacy.”

Based in offices in Downtown Honolulu, Aldrich oversees operations with an annual budget of about $36 million and involving more than 500 employees at 50 library branches statewide.

Age 45, Aldrich lives with her husband, Pat, in Hawaii Kai, where they will soon be joined by their greyhound dog and two cats that are still in Harrisburg, Penn.

Question: You’ve been pretty busy since starting as the state librarian on April 6, visiting many of the state’s libraries, and traveling to the mainland. Do you have a pretty good lay of the land now?

Answer: I think so. I have been to Maui and to the Big Island, and I’d been vacationing on Kauai for several years before moving here, so I’m really familiar with Kauai. And I’ve been traveling around Oahu and visiting with branch managers and staff.

I’m hoping in the fall to actually do a full visit with all of the branches on all of the islands, so I can really understand the communities better, and I can understand what’s happening in the libraries and see all the programs and great services that they have — and also see whether there are some things we might want to focus our attention on.

Q: After doing this in California and Pennsylvania, is taking the same job in Hawaii kind of like moving to a one-horse town?

A: (Laughter) No. It’s just a little bit different than the other two jobs I had, in Pennsylvania and California, because Hawaii is the only one in the nation that is one, single library system. California and Pennsylvanian have unique library jurisdictions that have their own boards.

Q: What do you think about how the state library system is organized here? Do you think that’s a good idea, and also to have it under the Board of Education?

A: Here the state library reports directly to the Board of Education, and I think libraries and education go together. They’re all about learning and helping to grow people’s minds and giving people opportunity. So I think it’s a good place to be.

I think that the organizational structure is wonderful. We have wonderful library staff and wonderful libraries. I love it because I’m really here to kind of take the libraries to the next level, and I think our communities are really ready for that.

Q: What do you see as the strengths of Hawaii’s public libraries?

A: One is that they are spaces for the community. In some of our smaller rural communities in the state, there are no other places where people can gather together. There are no places for meeting spaces. And there’s no other place for Internet access, because we do still have parts of our islands that don’t have Internet connectivity. So we really are the hub for those communities for access.

And I think the programming that we do, to get kids ready for learning in school — a lot of the story times, emergent literacy programs — are wonderful. We have our big summer reading program starting; it’s starting just this week. We have our big kick-off event this Saturday (June 6).

Q: Where’s it going to be?

A: It’s statewide. The summer reading is kicking off right now. But the big event is going to be at the main library, the Hawaii State Library, on the great lawn, from 10 until 2.

A: What will be happening?

Q: There’s going to be a bon dance, to honor our ancestors, who are also heroes. And then we have a variety of characters — this year’s theme is heroes.

Q: You have a variety of what?

A: Different kinds of heroes. So we’ll have police officers, firemen, and we’ll even have some “Star Wars” characters. (Laughter) So there will be a serious, thoughtful part of the day, and then there will be the fun part, and we hope everybody will come on down.

Q: Have you met the people from Friends of the Library?

A: Yes. … I think they’re wonderful. The fact that they have so many dedicated volunteers who believe in the value of a public library in their community, and the importance of having resources for everyone, it’s wonderful.

Q: If you go to various libraries, each seems to have its own little books-on-sale shelf. Are those books donated directly to the library, or do they come from the Friends? Do you know about that?

A: We have the big Friends of the Library group, and then the branches have what are called affiliates. And the affiliates collect books and sell them.

Q: If I buy a book from the shelf at the Kaimuki library, for example, and it’s $5, where does that money go?

A: It goes directly back to the library.

Q: If I donate books to that branch, what happens to those?

A: In most cases, they’ll review them to see if there are any that would be good for the collection, and if not, then the Friends would receive them.

Q: What do you see as some of the major challenges — and problems actually — of the state libraries?

A: I think some of the biggest challenges are … We’re trying to evolve as the communities evolve, and so we’re trying to balance the virtual and the physical.

Parts of our communities are more virtual, so we have a lot of library users who use us only virtually. They use all of the great resources we have online. They read e-books. They read magazines on line. They use the databases to look for information regarding various topics. They might even use it to learn languages. We have Mango Languages, PowerSpeak …. Actually, with Mango you can learn Hawaiian.

Q: Mango? You mean like m-a-n-g-o?

A: Yep. So we have a lot really great online resources. And then there’s still a great need for physical, because we still transport from branch to branch, when people would like to read something, some materials.

So balancing the physical and the virtual, and also helping people navigate the physical and the virtual.

We’re also going to be reworking our website to try to make it easer for people to find what it is they’re looking for.

Q: Regarding technology at the libraries, both in terms of services to the public as well as internal functions, you know, like accounting and payroll and general library archiving and whatever, how’s that going? We hear horror stories about the IT capabilities of most state departments.

A: (Laughter). We’re actually very lucky. We have very good connectivity to our libraries. We’re working on continuously improving that connectivity.

Q: What does that mean?

A: It’s basically how much capacity we have for people to use our computers and to use Wi-Fi connectivity, and also how fast that connectivity is.

Due to a grant before I got here, the former state librarian, Richard Burns, worked with the University of Hawaii and DCCA (the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs) and a couple of other partners to increase what’s called bandwidth for the libraries. So our bandwidth is fairly decent. We have a few places that we’re still working on, and part of it relates to the low connectivity.

We’re also right now looking to improve the computers we have in the library. Under the former state librarian, they created a program called the Netbook Program, where people can actually check out netbooks and take them home.

Q: You can check out a netbook?

A: Yeah. Take it home and …

Q: Do you have to leave a couple-hundred-dollar deposit or something?

A: (Laughter) You just have to use your library card. And it’s been very successful. And it has connectivity built into it. A person can take it home, and if they don’t have Internet access at home, they can still have connectivity using that netbook.

Q: How so?

A: It’s a wireless card. I think we’re using T-Mobile right now.

Q: So, as far as the back room, you guys are good with your accounting? What do you know about that?

A: Well, we don’t really function on our own. … Our payroll and HR are handled by our administrative staff, but the payments come from the Department of Accounting and General Services.

Q: Isn’t that weird that the BOE hires you, but other than that you’re totally separate from DOE?

A: Yes and no. It’s an interesting relationship, but it works. But as a state agency, which is what we are, we still have to follow all the same procedures and processes, which I know have been a bear for people to try to figure out in the past, and it’s not unique. California was facing the same problem, believe it or not.

Q: As far as challenges … there are a lot of homeless people in the libraries. Has that risen to the level of being a problem in terms of usage of the sanitation facilities, or even just taking up space?

A: Yeah, well, you know, homelessness is a community issue; it’s not just a library issue. And the library is open to all, and it should be, and everyone should have access to the resources.

Q: I figure they’re probably among the most educated people in Hawaii, being in the library all day.

A: (Laughter) … Well, we do have some issues with some people who misbehave or who create issues for us, and we’re actually looking to work more closely with each of the communities to figure out how we can better support some of these issues together and what role the library can play.

But again, the library is open to all, and as long as people are following our basic policies, our procedures, our rules that everyone has to follow, then everyone’s welcome.

Q: What’s your outlook for things to be done in the near future?

A: Oh, gee, lots of things. (Laughter) My brain just exploded because I have, like, this mega to-do list of things.

Again, we’re going to focus on virtual presence. Like I said, our webpage needs a little rehab. We’re actually going to be looking to hire a webmaster.

Q: A contractor or in-house?

A: It would be a contractor position.

So we’re going to be really looking at improving our digital footprint, figuring out new ways to, again, bridge (the physical and the virtual). If you’re looking for something physically — say you’re walking through the stacks and we don’t have it — we want to find ways that you could find out if we have it digitally, very easily through either your smart phone or some other device that we might have in the library.

We’re also looking at how we can help ensure that people have opportunities to learn the skills they need to be successful in the digital age.

Q: In middle age?

A: Digital age. (Laughter)

Q: Well maybe the middle-agers need some help, too?

A: Well, it’s actually for all age groups. From keiki to kupuna, we have people who are struggling, or who may only have maybe shallow swimming skills, and the Internet is big and there are a lot of great tools, but you also have to be aware of how to use those tools effectively and how to evaluate information and how to make sure you’re getting something that’s truthful.

Q: Anything else?

A: I think we have a wonderful library system. We’re the hub for people. We’re the place to start. So if you’re not sure how to begin something or to start to learn a new language, write a new resume, try figure out what kind of new job you want, start to read a new author that you want to expand your mind, our libraries are that place to start, and we’re really lucky to have wonderful libraries here in Hawaii — and I’m honored to be in this job.