When Melissa Brook moves she’s leaving her Little Free Library behind.
Not because she doesn’t love it – in fact she plans to apply for a new one as soon as she’s settled in to her new St. Albert home – but because it’s been such a success that her neighbours don’t want to see it go.
“It’s a huge hit. I didn’t think it would take off as much as it did,” she said.
Little Free Libraries have been taking over the world, and St. Albert is no exception. The take-a-book-leave-a-book bins, often decorated with funky colours, are now present in almost every neighbourhood from Erin Ridge to Akinsdale to Heritage Lakes. St. Albert’s public library is not involved with the little libraries other than to provide some books culled from its collection.
Brook started hers as a way to spend time with her three boys.
Unable to keep up with her sons’ voracious consumption of literature, she thought she’d bring the library to her boys rather than her boys to the library.
“We love going to library, but trying to find the time to get there (isn’t easy),” she said.
Caroline Switzer also liked the idea of kids being able to easily access free books. She set up the SAM School Little Free Library in front of Sir Alexander Mackenzie School, where her daughter studies.
“It shouldn’t be a chore to get a book,” she said. “All my kids love to read and it’s good time spent with the family, so having easy access to it is important, I think.”
Switzer saw her first Little Free Library while camping in Cowichan, B.C. Every day her family would walk to the park for some new reading material and to return yesterday’s findings.
Little Free Libraries are not exactly a new concept. In the 19th century, travelling (or itinerant) libraries had a very similar form, small boxes placed in general stores or parish churches, but existed for slightly different reasons.
They began as extensions of university libraries in a time when public library systems did not yet exist. They remained a way for the rural population to access books, as free libraries were created in major urban centres.
In fact, it was the travelling libraries of Lutie Stearns, a librarian who brought books to nearly 1,400 locations in Wisconsin between 1895 and 1914, that partly inspired Little Free Library creators Todd Bol, of Hudson, Wis. and Rick Brooks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
As a tribute to his mother, a teacher who loved to read, Bol built a model of a one-room schoolhouse, filled it with books and affixed it to a post in his front yard.
With the help of Rick Brooks, he expanded the project past his community.
Much like its predecessor, Little Free Libraries aim to promote literacy and the love of reading, but also to create a sense of community within the neighbourhoods they served.
The goal of building 2,510 Little Free Libraries – equivalent to the number of free public libraries supported by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie (another source of inspiration) at the turn of the 20th century – was reached in August 2012, a year and a half before the original target date. By January 2016, the total number of registered Little Free Libraries in the world was 36,000.
There are currently 11 locations throughout St. Albert – 12 with the recent unveiling of Aaron Schneider’s grain elevator-inspired Little Free Library.
Schneider’s original design, which his kids Mack and Allegra helped create, is one of the few libraries set up on public lands. It is part of a pilot project with the city.
As a contractor, Schneider wanted to put his handiwork to use in an effort to beautify his (already quite beautiful) North Ridge neighbourhood. Knowing the result would be a little more cumbersome than a retrofitted newspaper stand, he was hoping to find a space other than his front lawn to house the library.
Thinking the island within his cul-de-sac would be an ideal place for neighbours to congregate safely, Schneider worked with the city and three or four other stewards on developing lease agreements.
“I think some people might be cautious to come up to someone’s house and stand on their lawn,” he said.
That certainly hasn’t been the case for Brooks. Kids are outside her home daily, eager to pick up something new to read and drop off a book they’d like to share.
Her sons have made many friends through the presence of the library. They’ve also discovered books, like Goosebumps and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, that would never have piqued their interest, through exchanges with their newfound friends.
As a Little Free Library steward, Brook also gets to meet new people during monthly meetings and book swaps – organized to exchange ideas and literature, in an effort to keep collections freshly stocked and interesting.
“It’s cool to see the little ones out there. They get excited when new books come in,” said Brooks.
Nevertheless, Brook hopes to see more Little Free Libraries on public property in the future. She thinks they would be particularly welcomed at bus stops (because who wouldn’t love something new to read during their daily commute?)
