Little Free Libraries: Building communities, one book at a time

A Little Free Library is simple. It is a box, most often constructed to look like a house, built onto a post and filled with books. This little library sits upon someone’s front lawn or on public property, like a school or shopping center - and of course, is filled with various books meant to be shared. There is only one rule: if you take a book out, you put one back in.

These little libraries are often decorated eccentrically in order to catch the eye of passers-by, and the owner of each library chooses what books to fill it with initially. The hope is that people will stop by, choose a book to take home with them, and then replace it with a book of their own choosing.

According to Liesel Carlson, a Lansing area Little Free Library owner, "the original goal of the Little Free Library movement was to equal or surpass the number of libraries built by Andrew Carnegie," and it looks like this has happened as Leisel was the 2,050th library registered back in May of 2012. And now when checking the site to register the community little library she has been working on for the Red Cedar School, they are up to approximately 5,000.

While the concept seems simple, the Little Free Libraries are having quite an impact on the Capital region. These libraries are more than about encouraging people to pick up a book, but rather about encouraging and building a sense of community. "Having something like this in your yard conveys trust. In a world of locked doors, it encourages community in a safe way," says Liesel.

Jamey Limbers, another local Little Free Library owner, built his library with the help of his young daughter and her Girl Scout troop, to be placed at Pinecrest Elementary School. He had heard about the free little library movement via a special on a primetime news show and thought that it would be a great way to connect those in his neighborhood. He and his construction company spend a lot of time volunteering in the Lansing area as it is, and he realized that building a Little Free Library for the school his daughter attends would be a great way to connect the work of his company with his daughter's Girl Scout troop and the principal of the school.

E.B. Construction company donated materials and stained glass windows for the library, and the installation was created. It now stands in front of the elementary school with three shelves filled with books for adults on the top, high school and middle school aged students on the middle shelf and younger children on the bottom shelf. They have had many bookstores and friends donate books to their library, with the main goal of getting people out of their homes and together in their neighborhood. "If a neighbor from one side of Pinecrest meets a neighbor from the other side of the Pinecrest, the goal of the library will be accomplished."

The libraries can do more than just bring neighbors of a community together; they can also showcase the diversity of the neighborhoods in our region. While Liesel was working on the development of a Little Free Library that now stands at the Trowbridge Shopping Center in East Lansing, the group of volunteers envisioned visiting the Spartan Village student housing community nearby  to ask for the words "we read" to be translated in each participant's native language.  Due to the international student population at Spartan Village near the campus of Michigan State University, Trowbridge is a culturally rich and diverse neighborhood. The translated slips of paper were then put upon the community's Little Free Library as décor, and through a grant from the Michigan Association of Realtors for a meeting space, and the collaboration with the City of East Lansing, the library has been placed at the local shopping center near two picnic tables, serving as a community meeting spot.

The Little Free Libraries around Lansing are serving to encourage neighbors to get to know one another, build up communities, spur creativity and teamwork, and get old fashioned print books and resources in the hands of people around town. Jamey is "always seeing books rotate and the little library is always full of books- especially before and after school," thus proving the success of the library. Both Jamey and Liesel plan to keep their libraries going forever, with the help of others for maintenance due to weathering, etc.

The MSU Surplus Store has recently donated materials and books to Liesel as she embarked upon her third little library for the city, the one recently unveiled at Red Cedar School. This library involved the children of the school in its creation, as the cabinet voluntarily built by Jim Cunningham was decorated with the children’s handprints. She encourages more people to get involved and build collaborations with businesses, such as the MSU Surplus Store, to donate materials and build libraries in new communities. "The process brings all different types of people together and friendships are made," Leisel adds.

So go ahead, what you waiting for? Learn more about the Little Free Libraries movement, or better yet, build one yourself and register to get it on the map.
 
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Shannon Nobles is a freelance writer for Capital Gains.
 
Photos © Dave Trumpie
 
Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of Trumpie Photography.