Little Free Library

Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization based in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. They support the worldwide movement to offer free books housed in small containers to members of the local community. Little Free Libraries may also be referred to as community book exchanges, neighborhood book exchanges, book trading posts, pop-up libraries, and micro-libraries, among other names.^[3]

History

The first Little Free Library

The idea was popularized in Hudson, Wisconsin, in 2009 when Todd Bol mounted a wooden container designed to look like a school house on a post on his lawn as a tribute to his mother, who was a book lover and school teacher. Bol shared his idea with his partner, Rick Brooks, who found many ways to spread the word, and the idea spread rapidly. Library owners can create their own library box, usually about the size of a doll house, or purchase one from the website. For a fee, libraries may be registered and assigned a number at the organization's website. Owners receive a sign that reads "Little Free Library". They often have the phrase, "Take a Book. Leave a Book."^[4][5] The Little Free Library Index^[6] lists locations with GPS coordinates and information.

As of February 2013, all 50 states and 40 countries worldwide have been involved in the program.^[7] The original goal was the creation of 2,150 Little Libraries, which would surpass the number of libraries founded by Andrew Carnegie. As of January 2014, there are over 15,000 Little Libraries worldwide. An estimated 1,650,000 books were donated and borrowed from 2010 to 2013.^[8]

A Little Free Library in Nisswa, Minnesota.

Libraries have been donated to rural areas that have no libraries of their own or that have been affected by disasters. Libraries often incorporate materials from the community.^[9]

Libraries of all shapes and sizes exist, from smaller collections in brightly painted wooden houses to a library based on Doctor Who's TARDIS.^[10]

Censure

In late 2012, the village of Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, denied permission to potential Little Free Library projects and required that an existing Little Free Library be removed because of a village ordinance that prohibited structures in front yards. Village trustees also worried about inappropriate material being placed in the boxes.^[11] However, in August 2013, the village approved a new ordinance that specifically allowed Little Free Library boxes to be put up on private property.^[12]

In June 2014, city officials in Leawood, Kansas, shut down a Little Free Library under a city ordinance prohibiting detached structures.^[13] The family of the 9-year-old boy who built the structure created a Facebook page to support amendment of Leawood's city code.^[14] Another resident of the city who erected a Little Free Library was threatened with a $25 fine.^[15] In July the city council unanimously approved a temporary moratorium to permit Little Free Libraries on private property.^[16]

On January 29, 2015, the Metropolitan Planning Commission in Shreveport, Louisiana, shut down a Little Free Library. Zoning administrator Alan Clarke said that city ordinances only permitted libraries in commercial zones, and that of the three or more Little Free Libraries in Shreveport, the one that was shut down had "bothered someone".^[17] The following month, the city council temporarily legalized book exchange boxes until the zoning ordinances can be amended to permanently allow them.^[18]

See also

Little Free Library on M-22 just north of Frankfort, Michigan

Little Free Library in Oosthuizen, Netherlands

Public bookcase

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Little Free Library.

• Official website
• Little Free Library Index