A 15 percent reduction in the public library system's budget could result in the elimination of staff positions, curtailing of new books and even in the closure of five to six libraries across the state.

But the state Board of Education's Public Libraries Committee today refused to send that drastic of a cut to the governor for her consideration.

Instead, it gave preliminary approval to a $2.6 million budget reduction — or 10 percent — that would freeze vacant positions and cut the budget for new materials while keeping libraries open.

"A 15 percent cut would severely cripple the library system to the point where it not only becomes inefficient, but also ineffective," said Donna Ikeda, chairwoman of the state Board of Education.

"At this point, we can offer as our best offer a 10 percent cut," she said. "Anything above that can be taken by the governor. At that point, she can give us the rationale" for closing libraries.

The unanimous recommendation by the BOE committee publicly defies a mandate by Gov. Linda Lingle for all state agencies come up with 10 percent, 15 percent and 20 percent budget cut scenarios for their 2009-11 discretionary budget. The budget reduction scenarios were requested because the state's slowing economy has eroded tax revenue.

Prior to the decision by the committee, the chief of the Hawai'i State Public Library System outlined a dramatic budget cut scenario that would reduce hours of operation across the state, while also closing five to six libraries.

Under a $4.5 million budget reduction — or about 15 percent of the library system's budget — some 20 positions would have to be eliminated across the state. And state Librarian Richard Burns warned that the cuts would render libraries ineffective.

Burns did not specify which libraries could be affected if the library were forced to make those cuts. There are 51 libraries in the system.

"We won't need to close any libraries under a 10 percent (budget reduction) scenario," Burns said following the meeting.

For more on this story, see tomorrow's edition of The Advertiser.