Like so many things, it’s an idea that has come to the UK from across the pond.
A Little Free Library is a box full of books where anyone can drop by and take a book and bring back another book to leave for other people to read. They look like little birdhouses, and they are popping up everywhere. All the Little Free Libraries have been so creatively built by different individuals, so each has its own special character. We at Herok, think it’s a great idea and hope many more appear in the UK.
The two people most responsible for Little Free Libraries are Todd Bol and Rick Brooks. Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin built what would eventually be called the first “Little Free Library” as a memorial tribute to his mother in 2009. Rick Brooks of Madison, Wisconsin and he put together the ideas and strategies that led to other Little Free Libraries being installed in Minneapolis, Madison and other communities. But many of the people most responsible for the success of this movement are the “early adopters” of the idea. They became the stewards of the Little Free Library mission: to promote a sense of community, reading for children, literacy for adults and libraries around the world. Stewards often build the Libraries that serve their communities. They fill them with books, protect and promote them, and come up with new ways to share the goodwill generated by these neighbourhood book exchanges.
What a great new way to get books into children’s hands.
There are already hundreds, if not thousands of Little Free Libraries across the US, and they’re rapidly expanding to the rest of the world. There are now five here in the UK – one in Berkhamsted, Launton (Oxfordshire), Colchester, Upminster and one in London’s E5.
There is a great little video all about the Little Free Libraries here.
And if you’d like to find out about building one yourself, then take a look at the Little Free Library website here.
…And if it really expands in the future and you need to accommodate lots and lots of books, remember Herok, for educational furniture for adults’ and children’s libraries.
