MEDIA RELEASE
The Hawaii State Public Library System has earned the first State of Hawaii Excellence in Technology Award in the category of Improving State Operations.
State Chief Information Officer Sanjeev “Sonny” Bhagowalia, and a panel of IT experts bestowed the honor on HSPLS Chief Technology Officer Paola Saibene and her Electronic Services Support Section (ESSS) staff for their contributions to HSPLS and the people of Hawaii.
Over the last 18 months, Saibene and the ESSS staff have implemented an amazing number and variety of IT improvements, upgrades and enhancements, and their effects continue to be realized every day by patrons and staff alike.
HSPLS has been increasingly recognized by information, communications and IT experts for our many accomplishments, leading some of our vendors to pursue new and unique partnerships such as the Microsoft IT Academy, which provides free online digital literacy and technology training which can lead to official Microsoft Certification.
Among the successful implementations and innovations accomplished by HSPLS recently are:
* Free wireless internet connectivity in all 50 libraries statewide
* 1,400 desktop & laptop computers replaced, funded by leveraging HSPLS’ Broadband Technology Opportunity Program Access for All Grant, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Opportunity Online Grant, and state funds
* A new Public Access Portal
* Complete network re-design with separate, co-existing wired and wireless networks
* Design of a secure, internally-hosted virtual cloud
* Off-site disaster recovery, business continuity & replication of data capabilities
* Massive security implementation
* Data center virtualization and storage consolidation, moving from 13 physical servers in 2010 to 100 virtual, clustered and application-specific servers
* A new email system and unified communication components
“Each of these projects involved many hours of planning, design, testing, implementation, review, and troubleshooting,” said State Librarian Richard Burns. “We are extremely grateful to Mrs. Saibene and her ESSS staff for working long and hard to provide these enhancements for HSPLS and our patrons.”