Hawaii State Library reopens to visitors

The Hawaii State Library has reopened after being closed to visitors for nearly two years, and all the public libraries are resuming Wednesday hours following a pandemic-related hiatus of more than half a year.

The Hawaii State Library on South King Street had been closed for visits since Gov. David Ige’s COVID-19 emergency orders in March 2020 shut down many businesses and government offices, except essential services. The State Library reopened Monday.

There were numerous reasons the main branch of the library system stayed closed to patrons that long, said Mallory Fujitani, special assistant in the Office of the State Librarian.

After the initial shutdown, for about the first year of the pandemic, some main-branch staff volunteered to shift their work to helping with the backlog of pandemic unemployment claims at the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

In addition, a state hiring freeze due to the pandemic economic crunch meant that for a long while the State Library could not hire replacements for the staff members it lost through attrition.

“At one point we were at half staffing,” Fujitani said, which would have made it impossible to fully enforce and monitor required COVID-19 health and safety measures across the 100,000-square-foot facility.

During the closure the main library instead provided patrons with information services via telephone and email, managed the library collections, filled thousands of hold requests and allowed patrons to pick up materials at the door.

“We are so grateful to our patrons for your patience and support during this extended closure. We cannot wait to welcome you all back into our flagship branch,” State Librarian Stacey Aldrich said in a news release.

Some portions of the main library are still off-limits to visitors, but staff will retrieve materials on request, Fujitani said.

In its latest temporary schedule, the Hawaii State Library is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays. On Thursdays, hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. On Fridays, hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is closed on Sundays.

Meanwhile, all 51 public libraries this week once again began offering Wednesday hours. The Wednesday hours were suspended starting Aug. 18 due to the surge of the delta variant of COVID-19, followed by the omicron surge.

Because Hawaii’s public libraries are state facilities, until March 25, visitors 12 years and older must present proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test issued within the past 72 hours; wear a mask while indoors; practice physical distancing; and follow basic safety guidelines, including washing hands and using hand sanitizer.

Patrons can browse for materials, get access to free Wi-Fi, pick up holds, use printers and copiers, and get reference and research assistance. However, use of public internet computers is temporarily limited to up to two 60-minute sessions per day.