Little libraries now a menace for kids?

Chicago’s City Council has a new menace to stamp out: Little Free Libraries, those small wooden bookcases outside some homes that invite passersby to take a book and leave a good read behind.

What’s that? You say there are bigger problems right now for the city to worry about? Perhaps you’ve not considered the dangers of too much free reading, especially on the part of young people. If books are allowed to sit, unregulated and unpermitted, on the city’s precious parkways, who knows what chaos might ensue.

We jest, but an ordinance proposed by Alderman Ray Lopez, 15th, merits the most withering sarcasm, especially in an era when the far right is banning books as an absurd reflex.

Lopez apparently sees books as a problem too: He wants to require the Little Free Libraries to be subject to permits (an oxymoron), as if they were huge bouncy castles blocking the street. Worse, according to reporting by Block Club Chicago, Lopez also wants them to be run only by authorized nonprofit groups. A Chicago homeowner who wants to build a Little Free Library would be breaking the law.

“These bookcases have been popping up all throughout the city completely unregulated,” Lopez told the local news outlet.

Oh, the horror! Unregulated bookcases! What next? Neighbors talking to each other without approval?

This nonsense passed through committee Tuesday and is headed for a full City Council vote. Down, let’s hope.

Little Free Libraries shouldn’t need permits, unless someone is selling coffee out of one. They should be encouraged. They promote reading, education and community interaction. The city allows residents to plant and accessorize the city-owned parkways. People who choose to feature books should not be penalized.

Nor should one young man whose work we’ve noticed, a creative Chicagoan who offers a unique take on a Little Free Library.

At Spencer’s Garage, a kid can take a toy car or leave one behind for someone else. We smile every time we walk by.

Leave Spencer’s Garage alone, Alderman Lopez.