WAR OF WORDS OVER LIBRARY ‘SWAP BOX’
ABOOK lover who built a ‘swap box’ outside her home has been trolled by librarians – claiming they lead to closures and job losses.
Book shop worker, Olivia Clements, 23, installed the hand-made wooden unit to help her community through lockdown.
She found an old cabinet on the roadside and did it up – calling the green box ‘The Little Library’.
Olivia filled it with some books, which she encouraged others to swap and share.
She posted details on Twitter and was initially pleased with the response – until she started to receive negative comments.
She was called “stupid’’ and “misguided’’ and slammed for having “no real understanding of the role of libraries’’.
Olivia was accused of doing “such a middle class thing’’ and told the books would spread Covid.
One said: “So, take home a used book and maybe take home the virus that kills your mother.”
Olivia of Bishopston, Bristol, told the BBC: “It’s strange how something so small can turn very nasty.
“I put the tweet up and by the end of the day it was my most successful tweet.
“The most likes I had on a post before was about 20 but by Friday evening the tweet had about 380 likes and it got to around 10,000 in 24 hours. It was odd but lovely to see the positive comments.
“I did it all with good intentions and it’s strange how something so small can turn very nasty.
“It was rough and it made me understand why some people are reluctant to post online.”
Olivia posted details of her book box on February 5.
She wrote: “I made a community library! If you’re in the Bishopston area of Bristol please feel free to visit, borrow, swap out, and enjoy some much-needed escapism.”
But despite her good intentions negative comments soon began to pour in.
One user said: “Stick a few books in a box and call it a ‘community library’?
“This is a really middle class thing to do with no real understanding of collection management or the role of libraries as a place maker in the local community.
“Oh and the books need isolating for 72 hours on return and then cleaned otherwise you are putting people at risk of contagion.
“Sorry but completely misguided.” Another added: “Very lovely, and in other circumstances very helpful.
“However, stupid in current circumstances!
“So, take home a used book and maybe take home the virus that kills your mother.”
One user, whose wife is a librarian, said: “This is a lovely initiative but it does not replace the knowledge and help that a librarian (like my wife) brings to people.
“Many have lost their jobs, replaced by well meaning volunteers or not at all.”
Olivia works in Max Minerva’s bookshop in Westbury Park and the Bath branch of Waterstones.
She told the BBC she was well aware of how funding cuts and closures had affected libraries and had no intention of detracting from their work.
Olivia said the comments had been hurtful but thanked those who had supported her and shared pictures of their own book exchanges across the globe.
“I sat there looking at the notifications and all the people who had liked the tweet or commented. It’s like they don’t realise I will see them,” she said.
“One or two may be OK but when it’s hundreds it does have an impact on you. I think the message I would send is please just be nice.”