������Ƶ

Our family tends to spend Saturday mornings within a few miles of the Aina Haina Public Library. Not on purpose — at least not consciously.

But since we’re “in the area,” we often stop by, my 7-year-old racing to his favorite aisles in the children’s section. He grabs a few books — often based solely on the cover, validating the age-old idiom — and plops down on one of the comfy reading chairs scattered around the room.

Most mornings the library is busy, with patrons of all ages browsing books or sitting at one of its 12 computers. Kids in i9 basketball jerseys stop in after games at a nearby gym, and families take over tables with books sprawled out. The friendly librarians hand out rewards — bookmarks, stickers, squishies — to kids who complete whatever challenge is going on that day.

Just another Saturday at a Hawaii public library.

Except public libraries have evolved — and we might not have even noticed.

The Pandemic Forced Changes

The is the only statewide system in the United States, with 51 branches across six islands. These libraries welcomed about 1.3 million visits in 2023, circulating 3.6 million physical items and 1.3 million digital books, audiobooks and magazines.

Over the years they have evolved to meet the changing needs of their communities. The Covid-19 pandemic forced libraries to expand their e-book collections, according to state librarian Stacey Aldrich, and demand has continued to grow. (During the pandemic, Hawaii libraries saw more than 1 million downloads of e-books.)

Using the , library card-holders can borrow e-books and audiobooks and read them on phones or tablets. There’s a great selection of children’s books, too, and the app can narrate the books and flip the pages automatically.

You can also stream movies for free on , learn more than 70 languages — including olelo Hawaii — on , read The New York Times online for free and get help (over the phone or in person at select libraries) with technology questions with its . You can even learn how to play string and band instruments, including the ukulele, through the self-paced online lesson platform . What’s more — you can borrow a ukulele. Every branch has one.

“Libraries have always been about providing access to our collections and preserving and connecting our communities,” Aldrich says. “Libraries are not so much reinventing themselves as they are adapting to the needs of each of their communities. We are hubs for reading, learning and connecting.”

Creating these connections, particularly through events, has been a goal of many public libraries around the country, here included. Every year Hawaii libraries host thousands of events, like family game nights, keiki storytimes, movie showings, book club meetings, Lego playtime and craft activities.

The popular is coming up May 4 at several libraries. The Kahuku branch even has a makerspace with sewing machines and robotics kits for kids. And the Kaimuki library has a bin where you can take or leave packets of plant seeds.

Libraries Under Siege

Libraries are critically important to building strong, collaborative communities, and 2023 was a tumultuous year for them with book bans and for defending the First Amendment’s freedom to read.

These are supposed to be safe spaces for learning, sharing, growing and dreaming, a place to ask questions and find answers. Banning books, as former President Barack Obama wrote last year, is “profoundly misguided, and contrary to what has made this country great … It’s important for young people from all walks of life to see themselves represented in the pages of books, but it’s also important for all of us to engage with different ideas and points of view.”

Libraries need support. Their funding comes from four primary sources: the state general fund, state capital improvement project money, special funds (from fines, fees and additional services) and the federal Library Services and Technology Act, which provides about $1.2 million a year. Hawaii libraries also receive donations from individuals and organizations, such as the .

Aldrich says that while libraries received small increases in the budget, they have experienced a loss of funding to hire staff since the start of the pandemic. Currently, there are 186 librarians and a lot of vacant positions that have made keeping libraries open and providing needed services a challenge. And every year, Aldrich says, there are proposals to cut funding or staff.

“Unlike other departments, our 51 public libraries provide daily services to some of the most remote communities in the state, and providing services depends on having staff on site,” she says. “In this time where most information is only accessible via the internet, our public libraries are the only source of high-speed internet access and printing for many rural communities. Our libraries are also the location that people rely on for help to access government services, find information and support their family’s education.”

She adds that in Washington state, which has 50 libraries and serves nearly 1.6 million, is about the same size as the Hawaii State Public Library System but its budget is almost double the size.

“With their budget and staffing, they are able to offer more public service hours, mobile services and are able to bring more resources to communities,” she says. “We are underfunded in comparison.”

This has led to libraries coming up with creative ways to deal with staffing shortages.

About a year ago, Hawaii libraries installed a new check-out system where you stack books on a pad at the check-out station and in less than a second, the books, all outfitted with radio frequency identification chips, would all be checked out by the reader in the machine. Librarians don’t have to open each book and scan barcodes, freeing them up to do other things. And it allows libraries to move materials back out to the public more quickly.

The project costs about $3 million, and librarians and volunteers had to add the chips to every single item that could be checked out in every single library.

But that’s what librarians do. They evolve — and they don’t mind the extra work if it means creating a better experience for the community.