Free Little Library. You heard of these things?
It’s basically a little cabinet/book shelf that people put up on their property and fill with books. This little library is available for anyone to come and borrow books, or to contribute their own books. The hope is that it becomes a real community thing. Instead of being kept up and stocked by one person, the surrounding community all chips in.
I kind of want to do this!
via jenniferbrozek.com
Right beside my house is a path to one of the local elementary schools. Dozens, if not hundreds, or kids walk this path every single day. Seems like a free little library on that path would get a lot of use. I can see it right now. A TARDIS that opens up to reveal shelves of books. (Anything holding that many worlds needs to be bigger on the inside)
The other side of the coin is vandalism. Lots of people who aren’t kids walk that path as well. At night and on weekends, our town has lots of bored teenagers. I have visions of my book TARDIS (which hasn’t even been built) suffering destructive attacks, or having all the books stolen, or destroyed. Or they could do something really creative that can’t begin to imagine. I hope it doesn’t have anything to do with poop…
So now I’m at a crossroads. Do I put one up and hope for the best? Should I let the worry of vandalism keep me from doing something that could be really great?
I’ve always wanted to start one too, but my worry is that one person will keep taking all the books. I guess you just have to “let it go” and trust it will all work out😊
I say give it a go it could be what those bored teenagers really need.
It’s such a good idea!
But you are right, it depends on the location too. For a long time i thought my area is nice and the sort of place where these kind of things could happen. But we have a FB group for our neighbourhood and people keep mentioning that someone steals their plants from the window, and someone had their garden gate (!) stolen. So i wonder what would happen to the books…
This is a the kind of thing that I hope would be across the line for most vandals. Throw the occasional egg? Sure. Set off fireworks in the schoolyard a night? Who’s it going to hurt? Steal books? Too far, man. Too far.
But then there are vandals that nothing is too far.
OMG I WANT A BOOK TARDIS. That is amazing!
There are a few little free libraries around here, but they all contain nothing but religious materials and/or 5 copies of The Da Vinci Code.
How else are you supposed to get rid of copies of the Da Vinci Code?
That’s a good question. I feel like there should be a used book store somewhere in the country that has nothing but used copies of the Da Vinci Code.
When it first opened it would have every variant cover ever printed. But by the end of the first day there would only be movie version covers left. A week later, they’d be closed for business.
Probably, lol.
I have seen a couple of these around and love the idea! Tho I have never swapped a book from one.
I would hope that noone would vandalize it! Maybe start with something more simple than the tardis and if it doesn’t get vandalized you can put the effort into upgrading it?
Good luck if you decide to do it! Keep us posted 😀
Do it!!!!! There’s one by the school near my house, and I don’t think it’s ever been majorly vandalized (though it’s by an elementary school, so maybe it’d be different if it was older students)
We have a lot of these in town here. A couple have had the glass broken unfortunately, but the books are still there and being swapped.
I say give it a shot. If something happens to it, then at least you can say that you tried. I think that kids would love the idea of a free little library! I know that if something like that was around when i was little, I probably never would have left their yard!!
I see your dilemma, but you HAVE to do it, don’t you? I actually just got a couple of books and put them in a little free library in my boyfriend’s hometown development while we were away. That was super exciting. I just love the idea, and regardless of the fact that people suck, that shouldn’t necessarily ruin great things for the rest of us. I want to also eventually create my own. But while I am still apartment living, I think I will have to hold off on that for a bit…
Hello JW!
I actually came across a Little Free Library in my city a few days ago. Sounds like it is a fun idea to share books with the community. If it is any reassurance at all, the one that I came across didn’t have any hint of vandalism. Keep us updated about whether you decide to set up a Little Free Library and how it goes 🙂
A little late to the conversation, but I agree with the comments here, give it a go! Maybe start small and see how that goes over, or maybe ask friends or family for books they are looking to get rid of and start your LFL with donations from others, in the spirit of it being a community effort!
I hope you get a chance to make it work & keep us posted on how it goes!!