KAPAA — There was a lot going on Friday morning for Florence Toyofuku, a “farm school student,” to write about in her journal at the Kapaa Public Library.
“Doug Wilmor is making this hurricane-proof,” said Lani Kawahara, Kapaa Public Library librarian as Wilmor put finishing touches on the new book exchange. “This is all about getting more books into people’s hands. This is not a depository for library returns — there is a regular recepticle for that. This is all about the Friends of the Kapaa Public Library.”
The book exchange, or a miniature version of the library, was put online Friday morning following the Friends’ president Isobel Storch viewing a similar piece during a stopover in Boston.
“This was a little artsy place where we saw it,” Storch said. “The idea was good — take a book, bring a book. I thought this would be a fun thing to have at our library. Doug Wilmor agreed and got to work on it.”
The exchange is located within easy distance to the bus stop, and across the street from Kountry Cafe, Doug said. This makes it easy for people to view the adult titles and children’s titles that are available. Also, for many of the patrons at Kountry Cafe who are visitors, the exchange is a nice place to leave their titles when they’re ready to return home.
The exchange whose final appearance of painting and protective coats were all done by friends, is an example of how proceeds from the library’s used book sale is used. Titles being stored for the next sale are also candidates for placement within the exchange.
“This is the second time we’re trying this,” Wilmor said. “When we started in July, we created another version, much smaller than this. Lani took a look at it and said, ‘No way. It’s too small.’ We tried this version which is in two parts. Yesterday, we put in the footings and frame, and this morning we mated the exchange — this is the first time they’ve been together — and, it fits.”
All of this was being recorded by the budding journalist in her journal — using pictures instead of text, as the young “farm school” student wielded her Friends of the Kapaa Public Library pen onto the pages of her journal.
And through the process, she even discovered a title she wanted to investigate more.
“We can ‘borrow’ this one,” said Storch, Florence’s grandmother. “And when we’re done, we bring it back, and who knows, we might find a book we might want to share.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
