Just in...Hawaii fishes

Reef and Shore Fishes of the Hawaiian Islands (560 pp.), by John E. Randall, was published in 2007 by the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program. The book covers the 612 species found within the Hawaiian Islands from the shore down to 656 feet (200m). Introductory chapters present a historical review of ichthyological research in Hawaii, zoogeography, introductions of alien fishes, marine conservation, and methods for fish identification. Ref. QL636.5 R35 2007

See Star Bulletin review, 4.24.2007

Hawaii Directory of State, County and Federal Officials, 2008

LRB Library publishes the 2008 Hawaii Directory and offers pdf downloads as a complete volume or by individual agency on the LRB website.

A companion volume to the Guide to Government in Hawaii, this annual publication provides directory information for government in Hawaii. Includes phone numbers, mail and email addresses, and web site URLs.

Hawaii Directory of State, County and Federal Officials, 2008
(February 2008, pdf, 185pp/800kB)

Just in...2 on Hawaii

The Hawaii 2050 Sustainability Task Force issued its report on "charting a course for Hawaii's sustainable future." See post from the Hawaii House Blog.

See also FR post from last year on the Task Force and an earlier publication.

Hawaii 2050 Sustainability Plan (pdf, 99pp/9.6MB)
(HC79 E5 H25 2008)

--------

In Healthcare Hawaii Style, Frank L. Tabrah, M.D., writes of his lengthy medical experience in Hawaii, beginning as a plantation doctor in Kohala on the Big Island, and the evolution of medical care in the islands. Dr. Tabrah sees in the health care system that developed from the plantation communities promising elements for national universal health care. From the Preface:

Proponents of National Health plans and single-party payment systems will find much in the universal coverage of the plantation years and the success of mandatory health coverage since 1974 to ponder in solving our health care crisis.

See review from the Star Bulletin.

Healthcare Hawaii Style, Model for the Nation? How the Aloha State Leads the Way Toward Universal Healthcare
(RA447 H3 T32 2007)

Just in . . . Legislative drafting

The Legislative Drafter's Desk Reference, Second Edition, 583pp., updates the first edition published in 1992 by considering the impact of electronic documents and the Internet, and the role of the courts in interpreting legislation. (Ref. KF4950 F55 2007)

Table of contents:

• The first stage: preparing to put pen to paper
• Writing the bill: preliminary considerations
• Writing the provisions of a prototypical bill
• Writing amendatory provisions
• Style, form, and usage generally
• The role of the courts
• The uniquely federal forms and styles
• State and regulatory drafting considerations

The authors: Lawrence E. Filson is former Deputy Legislative Counsel and Sandra L. Strokoff is Senior Counsel, both for the Office of the Legislative Counsel, U.S. House of Representatives.

New for The Reading Shelf

Recently added to The Reading Shelf:

Hooked: Ethics, the Medical Profession, and the Pharmaceutical Industry (347 pp.), by Howard Brody, a physician and medical ethicist at the University of Texas.

From the Introduction: This book aims to:

• describe the present relationship between the medical profession and the pharmaceutical industry
• assess that relationship from the standpoint of ethics and policy
• where the problems are identified, suggest positive changes

(New York Times book review)


First Among Nisei: The Life and Writings of Masaji Marumoto (266 pp.), by Dennis M. Ogawa, professor of American Studies, University of Hawaii.

Marumoto was the first Asian to graduate from Harvard Law School and to serve on the supreme court of any state or territory. This account of his life and career is based on oral histories and his writings, which include excerpts from a diary he kept as a 14-year-old and letters he wrote home during World War II.

(Press release in the Advertiser)

New for The Reading Shelf

Recent additions to The Reading Shelf:

It Takes a Village, by Hillary Rodham Clinton. 10th anniversary edition. (press release)

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan. One of the New York Times' 10 Best Books of 2006. (NYT review)

Taking the High Road: A Metropolitan Agenda for Transportation Reform , Bruce Katz & Robert Puentes, Eds. (press release)

Hawaii Directory of Officials

Distribution of the print edition of the Library's volume, Directory of State, County and Federal Officials in Hawaii, 2007, will begin later next week. However, the digital edition is currently available for download. The publication contains department and agency listings with phone and fax numbers, and mail and e-mail addresses. A supplement to Guide to Government in Hawaii, the Directory is published annually.

Directory of State, County and Federal Officials in Hawaii, 2007
(available in pdf as complete volume and by section, from Hawaii LRB)

Web browsing

Browsing titles in a library or bookstore offers a different sort of pleasure than the quick find in Google. One of the first format features in HTML for the web browser was the bulleted list, an easily browsable presentation of content. Especially useful when sorted and harvested over a period of time, compiled lists can display trends and issues not readily discernible in a returned search hit list.

LRB Library's iClips not only daily gathers and lists news stories from online news providers, but compiles weekly selections of the local articles from Hawaii press for each month. Selecting the option to view the weekly compendium, one can browse a month's stories for each category.

During January and February, iClips harvested over 200 stories on the Hawaii State Legislature 2007 Session; and, proving the saying that everyone has an opinion, the largest weekly compendium of articles is, by far, the Editorials: February alone with over 300 listings.

Capitol biographies

One of the Library's most valued resources is its newspaper clippings file comprised of articles from the Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star Bulletin, covering about 1000 subjects. Some files date back to the 1970s.

The Library has just completed a helpful ancillary resource, a biographies file on Hawaii legislators, governors, and members of Congress, with relevant articles copied from the clippings file. (There are some articles from the 1960s when the Library kept folders of articles on legislators.) Totalling approximately 450 individuals, the files range alphabetically from Senator Kazuhisa Abe (Senate 1953-1966, Senate President 1965-66) to Senator Patsy Young (House 1972-1974, Senate 1975-1988). Currently the officials with the longest span of articles appear to be Senator Daniel Inouye (House 1955-58, Senate 1959, U.S. House 1959-1963, U.S. Senate 1963- ) and Governor Benjamin Cayetano (House 1975-1978, Senate 1979-1986, Lt. Governor 1986-1994, Governor 1994-2002). Articles will continue to be added to a person's file even after he or she leaves office.

The files are conveniently located in a cabinet by the reference desk, and a binder with a list of all names is available.

Language access in the Library

In the 2006 session, the Hawaii Legislature passed HB 2778, CD1 (pdf, 7pp/20kB) (Act 290, SLH 2006), which provides for the language access needs of persons with limited English proficiency.

Act 290 has been codified in Part II of chapter 371, Hawaii Revised Statutes, §§371-31 through 371-37. §371-33 requires state agencies to "take reasonable steps to ensure meaningful access to services, programs, and activities by limited English proficient persons, which will be determined by a totality of circumstances..." In response, the Library has acquired dictionaries for the following languages: Chinese, French, German, Ilocano, Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish, adding to the Hawaiian dictionaries already in its collection. All dictionaries may be found in the reference section.