Since budget cuts and a hiring freeze in May 2003 forced public libraries to drastically reduce their hours, the statewide system has been gradually restoring services.

The hiring freeze has been lifted, allowing the libraries to bring back about 85 of the 200 hours a week initially cut.

However, while the system has brought in 217 new staff members, employees are leaving the libraries in greater numbers and the number of vacancies is higher than it was before the freeze. Today, 82 of 585 positions are vacant, up from 70 vacancies 2 1/2 years ago. Twenty of the vacancies are librarian positions.

Even so, State Librarian Jo Ann Schindler said the outlook is brighter than when the library system was dealt a "double-whammy" under her predecessor, Virginia Lowell, who she said had no choice but to order libraries to cut back services to 40 hours a week.

"This is not where we want to be, but I would say we have made some real strides in restoring the hours because we were able to fill vacancies and we hope to be able to continue in this way," Schindler said.

With so many positions still vacant, the libraries will be working to fill them before asking lawmakers for more operating money. Meanwhile, Schindler said she is looking at restructuring the entire system in time to ask the 2007 state Legislature for additional money to further improve services.

Patrons at Kane'ohe Public Library, the latest location to increase its hours, were pleased to have the library open on Fridays again.

To 14-year-old Justin Lau, the library gives him an alternative to going home after school, and the more days it is open, the better.

"I come almost every day," he said as he waited to use a computer with Internet access. "I don't have Internet at home.

"People should be able to come whenever they want."

Fridays are particularly important for those looking for books and movies for the weekend.

Leanne Miyashiro, who brings her children to the library at least once a week, prefers to go to the library on days when her son doesn't have preschool the next day, so Fridays are ideal. "We're relieved, in a sense, that they're open Fridays now," she said.

While actively recruiting for 47 positions, the library also has expanded its services in ways that do not require extra staffing, including e-books, digital audiobooks and other online resources that library card-holders can access 24 hours a day via the Internet.

"We have a whole slew of useful resources," Schindler said.

Some offerings include automobile repair manuals, genealogical information and a number of resources for students doing research.

With no significant increase in budget, other than negotiated raises, the library has been able to make gradual improvements. It started with conservative recruitment attempts that have grown more aggressive with a large number of staff members reaching retirement age.

"We fill a position and two people retire," Schindler said.

It also is difficult to attract employees to a system that does not pay competitively, especially given the state's low unemployment rate, Schindler said.

Kane'ohe librarian Eileen Root said the pay is not that bad for librarians, but the support staff can do better elsewhere.

"Assistants get paid less than clerks at Wal-Mart," she said. "That's one of the problems."

She is glad to see the library expand its hours, although it is still closed on Saturdays, when once it was open every day of the week.

"Our biggest problem is that we cannot keep a big enough circulation staff to stay open as much as we'd like to because you can only spread people so thin," she said.

Public libraries to a certain extent compete with school libraries for staff, and while the wages are comparable, school libraries have an advantage when it comes to work schedules.

"Our folks work year-round and the public does want our libraries to be open on the weekends and evenings, so there are differences," Schindler said.

"We certainly wouldn't want to discourage (librarians from working at school), but those are some of the realities we're faced with."

With new hires hard to come by, expanded hours at one library could mean reduced hours at another. Kapolei Public Library's opening in August 2004, for instance, required the transfer of some staff from the library in Mililani. It took a year for the Mililani Public Library to restore the five service hours it lost because of transfers.

But for some patrons, it is nice to have a variety of libraries with varying hours to choose from. Debbie Saunders and her three daughters came to the Kane'ohe Public Library Friday afternoon after visiting the Kailua Public Library earlier that day in a hunt for holiday movies.

They generally come to the libraries once or twice a week, often in the evenings when her daughters have no homework.

"I like to bring my kids to the library because it's educational and you know they're going to read," she said. "I like the extra hours personally."

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.