Their sign is simple: “Free books.” Their mascot, a papier- mache owl, symbolizes wisdom.

University of Hawaii graduate student Eddie Bond and fellow book lover Crystal Clawson got so frustrated with the soaring cost of textbooks that they took matters into their own hands and created a free lending library.

Bond asked students and professors at the Manoa campus to donate textbooks they no longer needed, to be given free to the next crop of students taking the courses. Gearing up for the fall semester, the couple has amassed for distribution more than 2,000 volumes in their one-bedroom apartment.

“I think it needs to be done,” said Bond, a plain-spoken, upbeat 33-year-old who is working on his master’s in communicology. “I think it’s really important. A lot of the books we need aren’t at the library.”

Across the country, the annual cost of textbooks and course materials averages $1,298 at four-year public universities, according to the College Board. That’s out of reach for some students, and they try to make do without.

Bond discovered that last fall when a classmate told him she couldn’t do her part on a joint project because she hadn’t bought the text. It was too expensive. He shared his book with her, and that gave him an idea.

At the end of the semester, he asked other classmates to donate their textbooks so he could pass them on to future students in the course, which was on persuasion. He wound up collecting 50 books, mostly from other courses, such as science and math.

“I got everything they didn’t want but were required to take,” he said. “So right away we realized it was not just one department. We knew this was going to be huge.”

Bond and Clawson have dubbed their project Pueo Library and set up a website at pueolibrary.com. The bootstrap library has taken over their apartment. Bookshelves now cover all available wall space, reaching from floor to ceiling.

Bond enters the volumes in a spreadsheet online, so students can review and request them. But it’s hard to keep up, and many books still need cataloging.

“People can check the book list online and see if I have it,” Bond said. “Then they can email me a request and then I’ll bring it with me the next day to Campus Center.”

Bond and Clawson, an acupuncture student at World Institute of Medicine, use a little handcart to deliver books to campus, setting up shop with their mascot and sign at the start of the semester. After finals week, they collect books at dorms in a big blue barrel. Last semester, about 80 percent of the books they distributed came back at the end, and they hope to improve that rate this year.

The Pueo collection covers a wide range, from accounting textbooks to history books, biology texts to volumes on the Korean language.

Dave Brier, head of the Business, Humanities and Social Sciences Reference Department at UH-Manoa Library, is impressed with the commitment the couple has shown.

“What Eddie and Crystal have done is really a labor of love,” Brier said. “They’ve devoted their time, energy, money and attention to developing this library, and I think it’s a very good cause. Runaway textbook costs have become a major impediment to student success.

“Some of our students really have to make a choice between eating and buying books,” he added, citing a 2009 study that found that 1 in 5 UH-Manoa students were “food insecure.”

Because UH-Manoa Library is a a research library, it doesn’t carry undergraduate textbooks, Brier said.

“We have a general tradition that we do not purchase undergraduate textbooks for the collection,” Brier said. “There are multiple reasons for that. One, of course, is that a single copy of a circulating textbook serves only one student at a time. Frequent updates and new editions quickly render the text obsolete. That’s a concern because research libraries are operating on a limited budget.”

Bond is hoping to form a student club for the project to make it easier to distribute books on campus, and perhaps even find a spot to store them there because he’s running out of room at home.

One of his professors, R. Kelly Aune of the Communicology Department, praised Bond’s work ethic and drive, suggesting he is willing to think big and make things happen. Several years ago, Bond walked across the United States, and chronicled the adventure in his 2013 book, “The Great American Walkabout.”

“Pueo Library is completely consistent with the Eddie I have come to know,” Aune said. “I think it’s great for students. Textbooks are exorbitantly expensive, and kids are already paying so much in tuition. The fact that Eddie is stepping up to do it, I think is great.”