Maui Friends of the Library to fund painting of Lahaina Library’s exterior

Dorothy Tolliver and Richard Burns, head of the Hawaii State Public Library System, review refurbishing plans for Lahaina Public Library at a fundraiser in 2010. PHOTO BY NORM BEZANE.
LAHAINA – Volunteers with the Lahaina Public Library facelift project got more good news last week. Maui Friends of the Library announced that it will fund a complete repainting of the building to make the outside as good looking as the interior undergoing remodeling.
“Now our library will be beautiful both inside and out,” said Dorothy Tolliver, Maui Friends of the Library (MFOL) president.
The group’s board approved the funding last week, and a team from Scott Brothers Pacific immediately moved in to prepare the building.
Working with two other volunteer painting contractors, Scott Brothers was present for more than a week last month to supervise and help completely paint the interior.
“They did an excellent job of leading the interior painting. Having them do the exterior painting is a real plus,” said Sara Foley, who is coordinating the facelift project for the Maui Friends of the Library and the Rotary Club of Lahaina.
The success of three Maui Friends of the Library bookstores – the oldest in Puunene, with new ones at The Wharf Cinema Center in Lahaina and at Queen Ka’ahumanu Center in Kahului – played an important role in making the funding possible, Tolliver noted.
Jo Ann Carroll, manager of the Lahaina store and a MFOL board member, said the stores continue to receive a steady flow of donated books to add to the already extensive extensive collections.
In fact, Carroll said, “We get more donated books than customers. The more customers we have the better, because revenues go to helping all eight county libraries.”
With the library still closed, lovers of reading unable to borrow library books in Lahaina can stop in and choose among 7,000 books priced from $1 to $5 to hold them over until the library reopens, Carroll suggested.
Also, for people doing some shopping in Central Maui, they can shop for books at the Queen Ka’ahumanu Center store, which is near the entrance to Sears.
No date has been set for the library reopening, as delivery of the new bookcases and other furniture from the Mainland has caused a delay, said Coordinator Foley. The furniture is now on route and should arrive within three weeks. Rotarians and other volunteers will assemble it over four days.
Lastly, books will be re-shelved and computers reconnected.
“The results will be worth the wait,” Foley commented.