Library friends come in 2 sizes

The sponsor of the annual Friends of the Library book sale at McKinley High School, apparently, is the "Big Friends," an umbrella nonprofit that helps raise and distribute funds to its affiliated community public libraries.

But there also are "Little Friends" — such as Friends of the Aina Haina Public Library — not part of the big network. Turns out that many library patrons want their donations — via a particular library’s in-house book sale, say — to benefit that particular library. It also turns out a law change was needed to allow "Little Friends" to keep their raised funds specifically for their local library. A bill for such a change cleared final passage Tuesday, after a legislative drama of twists and turns.

The moral of the story: Don’t get between bookworms and their favorite neighborhood library.

Student housing has new meaning

Usually architects and engineers have to secure a professional perch before being able to see their work take shape in brick and mortar.

But for some University of Hawaii-Manoa students in those fields, they will be able to get real-world experience sooner, designing and engineering 10 model homes for the new state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands subdivision. The Kanehili project will give the students a "learning laboratory," said Alapaki Nahale-a, who is resigning from the agency on May 15.

Let’s hope this is just the first practicum of its kind. UH President M.R.C. Greenwood said she hopes there will be "hundreds" more. Perhaps a future project could involve students designing buildings for the new UH-West Oahu campus, where classes are slated to begin in three months.