After the Maui fires, the bookmobile pulled up to help

Climate events in an enclosed area, such as an island, can greatly increase the scale of harm. In August 2023, a combination of dry conditions, high winds, compromised escape routes, and an insufficient warning system for residents combined to make the wildfires on the Hawai‘i island of Maui among the deadliest on record. The town of Lāhainā, on Maui’s western peninsula, was the hardest hit; most of the town was completely burned, and more than 100 people were killed.

The Lāhainā Public Library, which served a population of roughly 22,000 across 51 miles, was destroyed in the fire. The Maui Holoholo Bookmobile, however, which has served the island’s six branches since 2016, was spared. Three weeks after the fire was contained, Jessica Gleason, bookmobile librarian at the Wailuku Public Library, and bookmobile driver Michael Tinker, hit the road to support Maui’s West Side community. Together with Lāhainā branch manager Chadde Holbron, the bookmobile team has been providing books, Wi-Fi, goods, story times, and programming in schools, community centers, civic buildings, and parks—needed services in a time of hardship.

LJ: What was your bookmobile work like before the fires?

Jessica Gleason: Prior to the fire and to COVID, we would primarily visit preschools, schools without libraries, senior housing and subsidized housing, community centers, and the correctional facility. We would participate in outreach events to publicize what the library has to offer. When COVID hit, we ended up off the road, everything shut down for a while. We did a book bin delivery service to preschools and senior housing, and I would do Zoom story time.

BRINGING THE JOY Top: Jessica Gleason conducting outdoor story time at Napili Park. Bottom: Gleason (l.) with her bookmobile team: Chadde Hobron, Michael Tinker, and Margaret Taves. Top photo by Mandi Ramos, bottom photo courtesy of Hawai‘i State Public Library System

How quickly were you able to mobilize after the fires? What was that like?

Chadde Holbron: Jessica is my mentor—she is how I got into librarianship. So it just seemed like a natural fit, once the fires hit, that I would tag along with her and Tinker, and then my staff came right along with us.

JG: Chadde had approached me asking to work together because his library was destroyed. Chadde was trying to reach out to his patrons, make sure his staff was safe. In the immediate aftermath we talked about it, and then it had to go to our upper administrators—the state librarian and the public libraries branch director, who oversee the operations of all the libraries. They decided on a date [to start] and gathered all the staff that we would need.

CH: I was able to get in touch with staff—everybody was safe and accounted for. The first thing I wanted to do was reach out to the patrons just to let them know we were there for them. When we did get the chance to go, it was a very quick decision because we had just talked about it two days before, and then we got the call: “Get your team together, you’re going out.” Luckily, my staff already lives in Lāhainā, so all we had to do was coordinate with them and tell them where we were going to be.

LOVE FOR THE ELDERS Gleason and the late Esther Ross, who lived to be 103, at Hale Mahaolu Eono Senior Housing. Photo by Michael Tinker

JG: It was three weeks after the fire. On the part of staff, there was some trepidation—is the air quality safe? But our administrators were in touch with emergency management, with FEMA. We aren’t emergency responders, but we are part of the state government, and we have a role to play. And because we have this beautiful bookmobile, we were able to have the flexibility to adjust. The support that we had initially from administration was critical. We needed to gather other staff to support us, because it was uncharted territory. The day we showed up, I had to compartmentalize, because we had served that community prior to the fire—101 people perished in the fire, and one of them, Angie, was our patron at the senior housing complex. It was jarring. I worried about what we could actually provide in that time, but it turned out our presence was really everything, our ability to stay present, to give them the attention and the love they needed in that moment, and hugs if they wanted a hug. People would see us and say, “Oh!” We had a lot of books that we could give them, and we unilaterally said, “Of course we’re replacing your card. Of course, don’t worry about what you had checked out.”

It was such a surreal, chaotic situation. We were just trying to find a safe, reliable place to park. Chadde had a lot of great people in the community that could give us information. We ended up going to the Hyatt, which was one of the hotels housing displaced people, and Whalers Village, in the center of resorts and hotels that were also housing displaced residents. It was just figuring out who the best person was to reach, and how we could reliably and safely keep coming back, in real time, as things were unfolding.

Which partnerships were most helpful?

JG: The biggest one was the Hawai‘i State Judiciary. [State Law Librarian/Access to Justice Coordinator] Jenny Silbiger called our bookmobile phone one day and asked how we were doing. I said we were okay, but we couldn’t establish programming yet. We were just bringing materials, expertise, help, being a presence that way. She said, Let me think about this—Lāhainā has a district court, like a satellite court—let me talk to judge Cahill and the staff there, and I’ll get back to you. And since March 2024, we have been going every week to the Lāhainā District Court, in the parking lot, and we have used their multipurpose room to provide story time, and most recently to provide basic computer classes that the state librarian has partnered with a nonprofit to provide statewide. That’s all it took, just to have someone to reach out, and she made it happen.

I’ve partnered with our local nonprofit arts center, Hui No‘eau. They had grant funds to serve the west side, where Lāhainā is. They have a visiting artist, a teacher, come and we partner at story time—we link it with art or crafts that they facilitate, and they bring art kits, and it’s just phenomenal. Family Hui Hawai‘i is a parent support group organization, and they facilitate conversations around the responsibilities of caregiving for young children, around self care, modeling that for their kids. All these people and agencies and nonprofits have this very similar goal of essentially helping to lift people up, to support them.

What would you want to do differently if you had to do it again?

JG: I am going to work with the state librarian on planting some seeds for support and training around collective grief and trauma. You can’t ever be completely prepared for something like this, but to have the language with which to express it and to show up for people in a way that is supportive, especially for ourselves—that’s my goal going forward, making sure our workplace is trauma-informed, that we continue to build the supports we need. And that’s not just post-disaster—that’s post-COVID, that’s since our social safety nets have been compromised. All the people that need help come to the one place that is meant to be safe for them, and it can be really overwhelming. To her credit, the state librarian did provide counseling [for library staff].

Given that every community is different, as are the climate emergencies they may go through, what would you advise people to think about before something happens?

CH: Everybody has their approach, but the end goal is always the same, and it’s always better to complement than it is to compete. When you bring in outside agencies, whether nonprofits or federal or state, everybody still has the same end result—that flexible relationship, where you have overlapping.

JG: Regardless of your community, [think about] the value of outreach. Not everybody has an outreach department either—the smaller you go, the less resources, the less specializing you do—but working it where you know a branch manager, or somebody within a branch or in a geographic area, can start to connect brick-and-mortar libraries and bookmobiles to spaces where the ultimate goal is to help people, to meet them where they’re at. The only way you can really do that, particularly for underserved populations, is to know the people they already trust and start to show up in those spaces. Have that nurtured always—it’s important to stay in touch with community partners. You don’t have to pigeonhole yourself. You can’t be everything to everyone, so you might as well bring in the people that know what they’re doing.

In the immediate aftermath of a disaster, there’s so much change happening. It’s really an exercise in not reacting, but trying your best, and letting yourself prioritize and reprioritize, based on the changes that are happening. Be patient, and then just be ready the moment you reach the right person. Say, “We’re coming,” and show up. Readiness, training, support for staff, and ongoing connection with partners is critical, and letting your colleagues know what you’re doing and who you’ve met.

How long will you keep providing service via bookmobile?

JG: Right now [residents] can drive out of Lāhainā and visit one of three libraries, but we’re the only public library presence in West Maui and Lāhainā. So in terms of our service, we’ve settled into this new normal of prioritizing West Maui, going every week—sometimes more than once a week—and we’ve managed to hold on to serving our seniors and some of our Head Start preschools and a traveling preschool, and then special requests we do case by case based on do we have staffing? Do we have the capacity to provide the service? We’re just moving along, doing the best we can. The bookmobile doesn’t replace a fully operational bricks and mortar library.