By Ken Sakamoto, Star-Bulletin
LIbrarian Sri P. Tencate says free Internet access is one draw
for users of the Molokai Public Library.

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Molokai library
celebrates 60 years

Internet helps keep
Friendly Isle folks in touch

By Gary T. Kubota
Star-Bulletin

KAUNAKAKAI -- While growing up in a small farm community in the late 1930s, attorney Yola Forbes remembers how the Molokai Public Library offered her a window to the world.

"We didn't have television so we were really limited in what we could learn. Radio reception wasn't good," said Forbes, 64. "We really didn't have anything in our home that I could read or wanted to read. The library was the only source for me."

The library, which continues to serve as a major source of information for island residents, celebrates its 60th anniversary Wednesday.

A celebration, including music and dance, will be held from 2 to 7:30 p.m. on the library grounds in Kaunakakai.

With its sloping roof and modest two-column portico, the one-story building near the entrance to town was built during Hawaii's plantation era.

In 1937, when the library was dedicated, pineapple was Molokai's main industry, and the population of the island was less than 5,300.

Most people traveled to Hawaii by ship. The jet engine had just been invented.

The library building, about 3,627 square feet, was designed with an art deco touch and constructed in 1937 for $15,764.50, including furniture.

Territorial architect Harry K. Stewart designed it and other buildings, including Baldwin High School on Maui and the territorial tax office.

While the population of the island hasn't changed much -- it's about 6,700 today -- the library interior has.

In addition to holding 21,563 books, the air-conditioned library offers access to computers listing more books in the state library system. Residents can make a computer request to have a book at a different library sent to Molokai.

The library also offers free Internet access for anyone with a state library card. People can read stories from the New York Times and other newspapers.

"People have been using the Internet a With an estimated 60 percent of the population native Hawaiian, books about Hawaiian culture and history are popular. "As soon as I put it on the shelf, they're gone," Tencate said.

Forbes, the daughter of a Hawaiian homesteader, remembers picking pineapples in the summer sun and going to the library to read about explorers and imagine a better life for herself.

"I didn't want to work in the fields," she said. "I was particularly interested in stories about people. The library opened up other possibilities."