The budget for Hawaii’s State Public Library System has been steadily shrinking over the past five years, while demand for an array of library services has gone up.

According to state data provided to Civil Beat, Hawaii’s network of 50 public libraries got more than $31 million in fiscal year 2007. By last fiscal year, funding had dipped below $28 million.

A $3.3 million reduction in library spending in that time amounts to an 11 percent reduction in the system’s budget in half a decade. At the same time, a library official says record numbers of people are using a variety of library services.

“Considering the increases in both physical visits and electronic access, we believe library use by Hawaii’s residents is at an all-time high,” said Susan Nakata, a section manager in library development for the state library system.

Hawaii library data shows that in-person visits to state libraries peaked in fiscal year 2009, a year before the state mandated 15 furloughs at libraries statewide. But even as physical visits to the library dropped off, circulation has picked back up and website visits are higher than ever.

*Fiscal Year 2010 included 15 furlough days at library branches statewide.

Demand Up, Funding Down at Libraries Nationwide

Hawaii isn’t alone. A Pew Charitable Trusts study released earlier this month finds that in several big cities, public libraries are more popular — and more economically challenged — than ever.

The funding for Hawaii’s public libraries last year amounts to about $20 per Hawaii resident. That’s a smaller figure than the lowest per capita amount — $24 in library spending for each resident of Phoenix, Arizona — among the 15 cities Pew examined. Keep in mind that we’re comparing statewide data from Hawaii to Pew’s city-based data.

The 11 percent cut to Hawaii’s library spending was more drastic than cuts in places like Baltimore and Seattle, where budgets decreased by 6 percent and 2 percent respectively between 2008 and 2010, according to the study. But Hawaii has been lucky compared with cities like Philadelphia and Los Angeles, which saw their respective budgets slashed 19 percent and 34 percent in that two-year period.

“The hard economic times of recent years have generated increased demand for the free and varied services libraries provide, even as revenue-challenged local governments have cut back on contributions to library budgets,” Pew writes on its website. “All of this comes at a time when libraries are being asked to perform a new and changing range of functions.”

In Hawaii, Nakata says demand for electronic books has also gone “through the roof,” not just in Hawaii but at libraries all over the United States.

“Across the country electronic services in libraries are just moving, especially e-books and things,” she said in a phone interview. “We’re trying really hard to build our collection here. With the Internet and everything, information is so fast in changing and being available.”

But purists don’t have to worry about good old-fashioned books disappearing from shelves just yet.

“Libraries will always be busy because we try to take care of everybody,” Nakata said. “We’re going to be there to try to help whatever person comes through our doors who needs that information, and we’ll provide it in the format that they’re comfortable using.”