When Richard Burns moves from his job as manager of Kapolei Public Library to take over as the new state librarian next year, he'll inherit a system on the rebound.

Nearly four years ago, current State Librarian Jo Ann Schindler was charged with rescuing the system of 51 libraries from budget cuts, fewer employees, reduced hours and antiquated computer systems.

While the library appears to be slowly recovering from those chronic problems, Burns, 51, will have his own challenges.

He is tasked with establishing new libraries that reach out to underserved areas, such as the Wai'anae Coast and the Big Island. His administration will have to continue tackling the many staff vacancies, hindered by the snail's pace of the state's hiring system. Burns also has the daunting task of bringing the library further into the Internet age.

As the library system has become more dependent on computer technology for circulation and online resources, staff have struggled with a painfully slow network, Schindler said.

"So much of what we are trying to offer our customers are really the advantages of technology," she said. "We have learned that our network infrastructure is not robust enough to do the job that we want it to do."

SHORT ON STAFF

Burns acknowledged that the staffing shortage — now at 82 vacancies out of 584 positions — will only get worse as members of the library's graying workforce continue to retire.

"Unfortunately, I see this as an ongoing problem," said Burns, who has worked in the library system since 1983.

"We're having trouble staffing the libraries that we have with the hours that we are open now," he said. "We would love to be open 12 hours a day, seven days a week, but if we can't provide staffing now, we certainly can't consider expanding our hours as much as we would like to."

The library's staffing problems have improved since the high of 135 vacancies in August 2004. Through an aggressive effort by the University of Hawai'i's Library and Information Science program and the library system, vacancies were reduced to a low of 67 in August 2006, though they have since increased.

Burns said a big factor is that so many librarians are at retirement age; about 204 employees, or 35 percent, are 55 or older.

Library officials at their most recent meeting with the state Board of Education, which oversees the system, said the hiring of new library staff is too slow to keep up with the demand.

Because the library is part of the executive branch of state government, all recruitment and hiring goes through the state Department of Human Resource Development, said Keith Fujio, the administrative services officer for the library system.

That means the hiring process can take three to 10 months or more, Fujio said.

Professor Andrew Wertheimer, chairman of the UH library program, said the complicated state hiring process is often a deterrent for his graduates.

"I think one of his (Burns') challenges is to improve the way people get hired," Wertheimer said. "It's a complex system. If they had more autonomy in the hiring process, they could do better."

Salary also is a major factor, Wertheimer said. Starting pay for librarians is about $35,000.

He said he doesn't believe there is a shortage of candidates. Instead, he said, the low pay means candidates often choose to work instead for public or private schools, or leave the state.

Staffing will likely be a bigger problem when new libraries open, such as those planned for Nanakuli and Koloa on Kaua'i.

"In the next 10 years or so, we'll have at least five new libraries opening statewide," Burns said. "That's exciting, but there will also be staffing issues involved in opening those buildings.

"It will add to our staffing problem."

Library officials also are planning to replace the 'Aiea and Manoa libraries, and two on the Big Island, Kohala and Kea'au.

Burns knows too well how staffing affects new libraries. As branch manager at Kapolei, he watched as the $8 million facility sat empty for three years while the community waited for the state to pay for 24 staffers and a collection of 120,000 books.

ELECTRONIC 24/7 LIBRARY

To compensate for short staff-ing, the library has piloted a self-checkout system — similar to retail stores — at the Kapolei and Hilo libraries. That system, which greatly reduces the staff's workload, could expand to other libraries.

The library administration also has put more resources online and automated some services.

As many libraries were forced to cut hours, the system expanded to a more "electronic 24/7 library" model, Schindler said.

"It is a way for customers who have Internet access to still have access to our resources," she said.

The library currently offers dozens of online research journals, electronic books, downloadable audio and audio books.

But Burns said the limited capacity of the library's network sometimes hinders public access to the library's resources.

"In the near future, we will analyze and develop ways to increase our network capacity and speed, which should, in the next year or so, provide a noticeable difference for our patrons in terms of access to our catalogs and databases," Burns said.

Corra Eggerman, branch manager of Waimanalo Public Library, said the snail's pace of the library network can be frustrating for both staff and patrons.

As a smaller library, she said online databases are key for customers who want to access reference materials. But the slow network is sometimes a hindrance.

"Sometimes it's frustrating trying to help people when you can't get into the databases," Eggerman said.

Burns says his administration will work to expand the number of online resources, upgrade to an integrated circulation system and improve the library's Internet presence.

While the library faces the challenge of keeping up with technology, Burns constantly reminds people to take a step back and look at how far the library has come.

"When I started working at Kahuku Public and School Library 24 years ago, we checked out materials by hand," Burns said. "We wrote down the title and author of the books by hand. And what we're doing now is light years ahead of that."

Reach Loren Moreno at lmoreno@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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