University of Hawaii at Manoa Chancellor Tom Apple is defending the decision to set the proposed salary for Manoa’s incoming head librarian at $195,000, saying the candidate was being pursued by other institutions and the salary is commensurate with peer universities.

Irene Herold’s three-year appointment as UH-Manoa head librarian is set to begin Aug. 1.

The Board of Regents will discuss the issue at its meeting Thursday.

While the appointment doesn’t require the approval of the board, UH customarily seeks comments on high-level picks and so is calling Herold’s salary "proposed."

After the BOR meeting, the issue will go before UH President M.R.C. Greenwood, a UH-Manoa spokes­woman said.

Herold’s salary has drawn criticism from UH faculty members and legislators, and comes as the university is under continued scrutiny at the state Legislature.

If her salary remains unchanged, Herold will earn $52,000 more than the last permanent UH-Manoa head librarian.

That position has been vacant, however, since 2006, UH-Manoa officials noted.

The interim university librarian earns $145,536, records show.

In a statement to the Star-Advertiser on Monday, Apple said the salary offered to Herold was "arrived at from benchmarking similar positions at Research I universities, cost of living notwithstanding."

He also said Herold is a "highly qualified selectee" and "was being actively pursued by other universities."

"No other candidates were close to her based upon the search process. We were successful in negotiating down to the final salary," he said.

The 2013 College and University Professional Association for Human Resources salary survey, by which university administrative salaries are often pegged, shows that the average salary for "chief library officer" at doctoral-granting institutions is $164,267.

Meanwhile, a 2011-12 Association of Research Libraries survey of 112 directors of university libraries showed 29 earned from $175,000 to $199,999, and 56 earned more than $200,000.

Herold is dean of the library at New Hampshire’s Keene State College, which offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees and has an enrollment of about 5,800.

At UH-Manoa, where 20,429 undergraduate and graduate students are enrolled, Herold will oversee about 145 faculty and staff members, a $15 million budget and collections that include about 3.4 million volumes.

Herold’s salary was set higher than the dean of the School of Architecture (who earns $188,520) but lower than the dean of the College of Education ($199,368), according to 2012 administrative salary figures provided to the faculty union.

If approved, she will also get a hefty pay raise.

A University System of New Hampshire spokes­woman said Herold’s salary is $105,140.

State Rep. K. Mark Takai (D, Newtown-Pearl City), a member of the House Education Committee and a longtime critic of executive salaries at UH, said the proposed salary for Herold is "ridiculous."

Takai added that the high salary "creates a very challenging morale situation" at a time when faculty members, including UH librarians, are being asked to do more with less.

Administrative salaries at UH have long been a point of concern for legislators but have come under greater scrutiny in the wake of last year’s Stevie Wonder concert debacle, in which university officials lost $200,000 in an alleged scam.

In February senators held an informational briefing to grill UH administrators on what they see as bloated salaries for executives.

Legislators were also considering a bill this session that would have required the Board of Regents to seek legislative approval for salary range proposals that are two times or more what the governor earns.

That measure appears dead.

But in testimony on the bill earlier this session, UH Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Linda Johnsrud said UH "competes to attract and acquire personnel with demonstrated competence and experience."

She also said 33 UH employees earn twice than the governor’s pay or more; 13 are researchers or professors.

The governor’s official salary is $123,486, but he actually earns $117,312 after a 5 percent pay cut in 2009.

Among the faculty members sounding off about Herold’s salary is Monica Ghosh, a 22-year veteran of UH-Manoa’s Hamilton Library.

Ghosh, a South Asia studies librarian and head of the Asia collection at Hamilton, said she heard about the proposed salary in the same week that she was turned down for a $3,000 pay increase request. She earns "under $80,000," she said.

"I’m happy for people who negotiate higher salaries, but I think what is happening is the gap between administrative salaries and faculty is just getting wider and wider," Ghosh said.

UH-Manoa librarians earn from $57,500 to $117,000 annually. The median salary for librarian V, the highest rank, is $90,800 at UH-Manoa, according to the faculty union.