Librarian in Black Blog – Sarah Houghton

The below summary is of a presentation given a few weeks ago at the Hawaii Library Association.  A small community-created library with no government funding and truly run on the energy and will of the community itself.  Sorry I’m so late in getting around to posting it, but I think this topic could be very helpful to many of us who are fast-losing funds.

Makiki: The Little Library That Could
Presenter: Ryan James, Della Au Bellati, and Christina Abelardo

The Makiki Community Library is truly a community created library.  The State Library System (which runs all Hawaii public libraries) was reluctant to allow a new library in this area, as it was in Honolulu and close to other libraries.  However, the community and local elected officials decided to pursue the dream of a local library.  Most of the library workers are volunteers.  There are only two part-time paid staff members, one of whom is one of the presenters, Ryan James.  The entire collection is made up of donated materials.  The library is housed in a City/County parks building, but is not run by the city.  It is run by the Friends of the Makiki Community Library and is a 501(c)(3) non-profit.  The library is governed by a Board of Directors that sets policies and goals.  The do offer many community events, which can be seen at MakikiCommunity.org.  Christina is one of the volunteers and noted that things do take longer at Makiki than they do at regular libraries.  They don’t have any computers, so everything is done by hand — including book processing, circulation, and event sign-ups.  Some volunteers are regularly scheduled while others simply come in when they have time.  Ryan noted that one of the challenges when he arrived was setting policies and procedures that were realistic given the library’s resources.  For circulation, they changed from having people write their names on the circ cards to having them write their library card numbers.  They are now looking at using Koha for their catalog & circulation (yay open source!).  Ryan noted that many of their donations are not in good condition (silverfish, mold) but they always try to keep the donations process positive.  If someone took the time and effort to donate time, money, or resources to the library, it is essential that the person perceive that as a positive experience, where their donation was received positively and with gratitude.  (Sarah’s comment: This is SO TRUE.  How many libraries limit what can be donated, what they will take, and even turn away people with materials or wanting to donate time?  We need to stop being so censoring and encourage building a sense of ownership of the library in the community).  Ryan also noted that a huge benefit of the library is less bureaucracy – they are flexible, can react quickly to an idea, and pursue creative thoughts.  They have 450 card-holders currently.  They have 50 paid Friends members.  They also advertise specifically for people with skill-sets that they need – people to organize displays, perform electrical work, computer set-ups, etc.  They do not charge overdue fees due to a city policy that you cannot charge people money on city property.  This policy also affects the ability to offer booksales – they have to get one-day permits to get money from citizens.