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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsLittle Free Library
It started as a simple tribute to his mother, a teacher and bibliophile. Todd Bol put up a miniature version of a one-room schoolhouse on a post outside his home in this western Wisconsin city, filled it with books and invited his neighbors to borrow them.
They loved it, and began dropping by so often that his lawn became a gathering spot. Then a friend in Madison put out some similar boxes and got the same reaction. More home-crafted libraries began popping up around Wisconsin's capital.
Three years later, the whimsical boxes are a global sensation. They number in the thousands and have spread to at least 36 countries, in a testimonial to the power of a good idea, the simple allure of a book and the wildfire of the internet.
"It's weird to be an international phenomenon," said Bol, a former international business consultant who finds himself at the head of what has become the Little Free Libraries organization. The book-sharing boxes are being adopted by a growing number of groups as a way of promoting literacy in inner cities and underdeveloped countries.
Each little library invites passersby to "take a book, return a book."
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/us/article/Wis-man-s-Little-Free-Library-copied-worldwide-4145047.php#ixzz2G5fNqYiN
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)So cute and so easy to do!
Lifelong Protester
(8,421 posts)a cool idea. I also have seen folks using old unused phone boxes for this (that someone jazzes up). I love this idea.
niyad
(112,064 posts)I live next door to a library (LUCKY ME) but will share this idea with friends.
note: I am sure others do this, but, per a suggestion to the manager, one of our local starbucks, and several other coffeehouses in the area, have these free libraries.
warrior1
(12,325 posts)It's on "T" street in Sacramento. They say take one and/or leave one.
Nice folks.
Judi Lynn
(160,076 posts)every right-winger, every greedy old partisan.
It may take a while, but then we'll know the world is headed for true freedom, as the species will be cleansing itself.
Thank you, Redfairen. Welcome to D.U.
postulater
(5,075 posts)the Little Free Library has been shut down.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/village-slaps-endnote-on-little-libraries-2f7j416-178453671.html
"Avi and Dannette Lank chose the permission route when they decided to place one of those trendy little free libraries in their front yard, you know the ones where people stop by to take a book or leave a book.
Now they wish they had just quietly put the darn thing up and taken their chances.
The Village of Whitefish Bay shot down their plans. Worse yet, the village is ordering a church to take down the suburb's only existing little library, which wasn't bothering anybody."