Hawaii State Public Library System
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Hawaiʻi State Public Library System is the only statewide public library system in the United States and is one of the largest. Its headquarters is at a historic downtown Honolulu building called the Hawaiʻi State Library, built in 1911 by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. A reincarnation of the library system of the former Kingdom of Hawaiʻi, the system has 51 libraries on all the major Hawaiian Islands: Big Island of Hawaiʻi, Kauaʻi, Lānaʻi, Maui, Molokaʻi and Oʻahu. The state's collection of books totals over three million. There is one library for the visually impaired and physically disabled, located on Oʻahu.
As part of the most centralized public education system in the country, the principal administrator of the Hawaiʻi State Public Library System is the Governor of Hawaiʻi. His or her authority is passed through the Hawaiʻi State Department of Education and a limited authority Board of Education which hires a state librarian. The state librarian in turn appoints the librarians that head the fifty individual branches.
