While West Hawaii’s two public libraries in Kailua-Kona and Kealakekua are awaiting a full reopening, another kind of library is increasingly being seen on the streets of Kona neighborhoods and in public places.
These “little libraries” as they are known, are freestanding boxes or small structures — typically holding 15 to 30 books — where residents may take a book or leave a book, all without a card or cost. Currently, perhaps a dozen of these little libraries are scattered throughout the community, with more expected to come.
The multi-fold purpose of the little libraries is to be a neighborhood “book exchange” by expanding access to books, promoting literacy, inspiring a love of reading, and even building community and bringing people together.
The little library movement had its genesis in the small town of Hudson, Wisconsin, more than a decade ago. Since then, it has grown into a global phenomenon, with an estimated 100,000 little libraries in a hundred-plus countries.
The movement now even has its own official website, www.littlefreelibrary.org, with videos, plans, guides and other information about building, installing, and stocking your little library. On the site, you can register your little library and even have it placed on a world map. You can also purchase a ready-made little library box for under $400.
The coming of little libraries to the Kona area has been more an organic process, typified by residents Patti Robinson and Shirley David. As members of the Friends of the Libraries, Kona (F.O.L.K.) Book Club, the two women have a real love for reading and wanted to share with their neighbors, via a little library.
That became a reality as both have husbands who constructed a little library for them — one as a birthday gift, to Patti, the other has a Valentine’s Day gift, for Shirley. Robinson lives in Alii Heights and David lives in the Lako Street area.
Robinson said her little library is a miniature model of their home and described it as “really, really fun. I see people walking by all the time and taking something. I think it’s a great community outreach.” Her little library theme is “Take a look, take a book.”
Another booster is Donna Hiranaka, who had seen little libraries while walking during a visit to her hometown of Beloit, Wisconsin. Her interest got her to get the Rotary Club of Mauka Kona behind little libraries as a community project for the group.
The club has now installed four little libraries along the Kona Coast. One is at Patel’s gas station in Honaunau, a second is above Choice Mart in Captain Cook, a third is next to Koa Realty in Holualoa while a fourth is next to Tyke’s Laundromat on Luhia Street in the Old Kona Industrial Area.
Use of these is brisk, said Hiranaka and another Rotary member Mary Curtis, and it had been hard to keep them stocked. Recently, however, the two and the Club have been helped by the Friends of the Libraries, Kona, which has supplied them with books from a surplus they have access to in a Kona area storage facility.
At the same time, F.O.L.K. is looking for a location where it can sell some of these books to raise money for programs and other needs at Kona’s two public libraries; contact Ken at 322-0077.
Rotary Club president Sam Johnson said he would like to install little libraries at additional locations — especially high traffic ones in the community now that a source of books to stock them is available from F.O.L.K. He asked that any person or business interested contact him at (808) 333-6416 or Hiranaka at (808) 326-7273. Johnson noted that the club is willing to construct a little library should any party request it.
Anyone wishing to fashion a little library should know they can come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, be ornate or simple, painted or unpainted and so on. Some are crafted according to the tastes of the property owner — no special carpentry skills needed — with repurposed or leftover materials. Others may simply be old mailboxes, breadboxes, storage containers or even appliances.
They may also be purchased ready-made from the Little Free Libraries website. The single caveat is that they need a roof and a door that closes securely to prevent the books inside from getting wet.
They also typically have a descriptive name somewhere on the structure ranging from the generic “little library” or “book exchange” to “take a book, leave a book” to the more personalized; Shirley David, for example, calls hers “Shirley’s Tiny Library” while Glenn and Kim Jensen of Kona call theirs “A Little Ladybug Library.”
The Jensens’ name sounds like it’s for kids, and it is – for children “two to 102,” said Kim Jensen, who first encountered a little library on a mainland trip a few years ago. They were intrigued enough that last summer Glen spent a month creating one. The Jensens, who are 38-year residents of Kona, said their little library is a “lot of fun” and a wonderful way to both get books into the hands of children and meet neighbors.
Books in little libraries may be paperbacks or hardcover and run the gamut from children’s storybooks, to novels, hefty classical works, fiction and nonfiction, instructional or school texts, and everything in between, including comics, puzzles, games, picture stories and CDs. There is no requirement to return or replace a book you take and donations are always welcome.
Little libraries may also sometimes contain more than books, as when the Rotary of Mauka Kona stocked their little libraries with canned goods and foodstuffs for people in need during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
The little libraries’ goal of providing another option where books may be easily accessed and shared by children and adults is both supremely simple and beneficial in these stressful times. Even more than this, they can be a way to meet neighbors, make new friends and bring people together — with three quarters of people asked saying their neighborhood is a friendlier place due to little libraries.
So, next time you’re out walking or driving in Kona, take a moment to visit the library — a little library. Or better yet, make your own.