Holoholo Bookmobile to Hit the Road in June

Maui Friends of the Library image.

The Maui Friends of the Library, in cooperation with Whole Foods Market, is offering shoppers the opportunity to make donations to purchase new library materials for a state-of-the-art bookmobile set to roll into Maui in June 2016.

The “Library on Wheels,” named “Holoholo” (“go for a ride” in Hawaiian) is being gifted to the Hawai‘i State Library System by MFOL.

The colorful, 30-foot-long vehicle with a custom-designed interior will be equipped with WiFi, a State of Hawai‘i Library System computer, a solar array and a wheelchair lift, among other features.

Holoholo will hold up to 3,000 books, audio books and DVDs, periodicals and will also provide community access to e-books and research materials.

Whole Foods Market has continued its efforts to support MFOL through used book sales and a donation jar its Kahului store.

The next Whole Foods Market book sale will be held on Saturday, April 16, from 9 a.m to 3 p.m.

“We’re doing our part, having raised $300,000 from used book sales at our three stores,” said Dorothy Tolliver, MFOL past president and Bookmobile Committee chair. “Through our new ‘Dollars for Holoholo’ campaign, we hope Whole Foods Market shoppers and others will help us raise sufficient funds to stock the bookmobile with new books, magazines and other materials.”

“Our bookstores have been able to generate significant sales with the help of some 80 unpaid volunteers,” Tolliver said. “Whole Foods Market is a great partner. The store itself volunteered to participate in raising funds for bookmobile materials before they were even asked. The bookmobile is a way for all of the community to participate in making sure that library services, including a full-time librarian, will be accessible to everyone, not just those who live close to a brick-and-mortar library building.”

Funds are also being collected at the three MFOL used bookstores—Ka‘ahumanu Center in Kahului, The Wharf Cinema Center in Lahaina and Old Pu‘unēnē School in Pu’unēnē (near the Sugar Mill)—and by checks made to MFOL Bookmobile, P.O. Box 1017, Wailuku, HI 96793.

MFOL will also hold its warehouse sale on April 9 (see link below) and at the Kīhei Public Library on Friday and Saturday, April 22 and 23, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Locations wanting to be on the new bookmobile’s route should contact the Wailuku Public Library at (808) 243-5766.

MAUI NOW STORY LINK
Friends of Library to Hold Warehouse Sale April 9