Little Free Libraries
by Marnie Wellar
Updated and adapted from an article originally published in www.montgolfiereweekly.com.
A few years ago in Montreal, I saw a charming little wooden cupboard set up outside a coffee shop. A notice on the door offered free books, there were books inside, and I was enchanted. Last summer I decided to make a Little Free Library of my own. It was an ideal small project, taking only a few days from sketching out the design to putting up the finished cabinet, built mostly from discarded materials.
When I put the cabinet up, the first book was taken before I could even get them all in. It was great fun to watch people discover the library. Some loudly exclaimed with delight, others gave it an intense silent examination from every angle. People even crossed the street or stopped their cars to take a look.
Books flew off the shelves. For most people running a Little Free Library, too much taking and not enough leaving is a concern, but it was what I hoped for. I had plenty of books and no worries about keeping a Little Free Library stocked.
I had been working at the May Court Library, a charity that provides recreational reading material to patients and staff at the Ottawa Hospital. It needs donations of the kind of thing one would take to a sick friend – popular, recent books and magazines in pristine condition. We often get those and we also get titles in good condition that aren’t right for us, and of course, a bit of trash comes in as well. The surplus material is sold at book sales or given to thrift shops, and the dirty, smoky or mouldy stuff is recycled. However, some books are hard to part with – certain special books.
These special books were just a “fun little stack” at first, but they kept piling up. Every book a treasure, but the increasing number was becoming a worry, when one day I remembered the little book cabinet in Montreal. That’s how I could do it – I would give them away, and I would likely never run short.
My Little Free Library had been up for a few days, books were moving on, the pile diminishing nicely, all going well, when an unforeseen event occurred. People started putting books in. This was lovely, of course, but a setback for my distribution agenda.
Then someone left The Girl on the Train – perfect hospital reading: a gripping thriller, ideal for escaping into a book. I took it to work; it was borrowed by lunchtime, and thus began an unexpected renewal of the May Court Library shelves. When suitable books turned up in the Little Free Library, I took them to the hospital. To date, more than half the May Court Library collection has come from there.
People are generous with their books at the Little Free Library. Some weeks 40 to 50 books are traded. Curating it is really fun. When I put in something brilliant, or funny as hell, or totally devastating, I think about how it might affect the person who reads it. I hope whoever took Sophie’s Choice is okay.
In addition to enabling me to share deserving books and enriching the hospital library, the Little Free Library has affected my own reading. I read more, and I read books I would not have picked up before. One day a volume of Anna Karenina arrived. I was dubious. Over the years I’ve made attempts to read this supposedly fabulous novel, but each time I found it insanely boring. However, this was a new translation. I read it with the greatest enjoyment and at last understand why everyone loves this book. Thank you, unknown friend, for a precious gift!
People are kind about expressing their appreciation for the Little Free Library. One guy pointed at it and yelled, “BEST. PRESENT. EVER!!” Strangers ring the doorbell to thank me. A very nice man gave me $5. I have received cards, a cupcake and a chocolate bar. Not long ago at the grocery, a lady said in an undertone to her friend, “That’s the woman with that library on Fifth,” and her friend whispered back, “It is? I got Sarah’s Key from there! That was a great book.”
The Little Free Library offers reading that engages with nature. Business boomed all summer, but when it’s nasty out, people won’t stand around with their mitts off, paging through books. Now is the time to enjoy a sunny walk through falling leaves and trade a few books in preparation for shorter, darker days ahead.
In addition to my Little Free Library on Fifth between Lyon and Percy, there are others in the Glebe: at Fourth and Bronson, Broadway between Findlay and Torrington, Strathcona near Metcalfe; and there may be others. Go to www.littlefreelibrary.org/ourmap to see a worldwide map of Little Free Library locations.
Marnie Wellar is a Little Free Librarian who recently took charge of distributing the Glebe Report. She has lived in the Glebe for 10 years.
