Little Free Libraries spread the word on love of books
Small, creatively decorated boxes filled with books are popping up outside Calgary homes, businesses, schools, community centres and even in a downtown Plus-15.
In the 19 months since Calgary’s first Little Free Library (LFL) opened in the northwest community of Brentwood, nearly 50 of the miniature libraries have been installed in the city, a number that surprises the woman who brought the movement to Calgary.
“I never, ever in a million years would have predicted that they would have taken off like this here in Calgary,” said Cheri Macaulay who, along with her neighbour, installed Calgary’s first and second LFL in May 2012.
The handmade boxes originated in Wisconsin in 2009 after Todd Bol built a model of a one-room schoolhouse, filled it with books and put it on a post in his front yard as a tribute to his mother.
Today, there are more than 4,000 of the mini libraries around the world. The boxes simply encourage users to take a book or leave a book, and any- one can build their own and register it on the organization’s website.
Calgary LFL proponents don’t expect the book boxes to fade in popularity anytime soon. In fact, they expect dozens more to be built in Calgary in 2014.
“People are really hungry for little community hubs where they can bump into each other,” said Macaulay.
Supporters list a range of reasons when quizzed on why Calgarians have so embraced the whimsical boxes: they’re cute, they’re free to use, it’s easy for anyone to get involved as an owner or user, they give people an excuse to talk to strangers and people love books.
“People are yearning for some simplicity in their life, to have community and to remember things that perhaps we’ve taken for granted (such as) getting to know your neighbours, having a little gathering place,” said Steacy Lee Collyer, who installed an LFL in her Inglewood front yard in 2012.
Collyer and other Calgarians who have opened LFLs say the mini libraries have had a huge effect on their neighbourhoods.
Macaulay has heard from neighbours and strangers that the library is the best thing to ever happen in the community.
Lana Shupe, who with the help of her neighbours opened an LFL in a Tuscany green space in October, said the book box has become a meeting place and a welcome addition in a neighbourhood where people “drive into their garages and never see each other.”
“We’ve connected. We now know who each other are,” said Shupe.
And, LFL owners and enthusiasts say as more of the cute community hubs open, owners are discovering new ways in which the boxes build community and transform neighbourhoods.
There have been building bees that connect woodworkers with volunteers who assemble the boxes and artists who paint them. An event for LFL owners to share stories and get to know one another is in the works. Shupe is planning to invite the Tuscany library’s users into her home to sit by the fire and hear readings from local authors. Calgary Reads, a local educational organization that has embraced the LFL initiative, has had volunteers build, paint and auction off several book boxes.
In 2014, Calgary Reads plans to gather more data from LFL owners, continue to connect the talent that builds and decorates the boxes with people who want boxes in their community, and evaluate what else they can do to help the movement.
“It’s made us really excited that other people are so excited about reading,” said Collyer, the executive director of Calgary Reads.
When Macaulay installed Calgary’s first LFL in her front yard as part of the 3 Things for Calgary initiative, she expected it would take weeks or months for Calgarians to understand what the box was all about and start using it.
Instead, within hours half of the books were gone and soon new books appeared. It’s a cycle that Macaulay doesn’t expect will stop any time soon.
“Calgary has taken (Little Free Libraries) up like nobody’s business,” Macaulay said.