Hooray! Our little free library is up. And its awesome.
It’s no secret that I am a book lovin’ gal.
I sit on the Waterloo Public Library Board, I buy books, I borrow books and I most certainly read and talk about books.
And now me and my family can share our love of books with our neighbourhood. Our little free library is up and open for browsers and borrowers.
I’m pretty pumped.
Before we installed it in the front yard, I spent considerable time thinking about where the right spot would be. We don’t have a sidewalk so it had to be easy to spot from the street and I had to be able to see people approach it from my living room or kitchen. Not so much so I could stare, but delight in the fact it had visitors. And alert me to the fact I might want to check on the status of the books. Okay a little bit of staring but not in a creepy way.
It’s been up a few weeks and it’s doing exactly what it is supposed to do: people are talking to us about the library (neighbours who haven’t chatted with us much before), books are leaving the library, books are arriving at the library – well only two but that is a start, and people are thinking and talking about books, their importance and the idea of sharing with each other.
At the risk of sounding corny, this is so cool.
My son gets in on the little library action.
And my little guy is rather excited about the little library too. He checks it every afternoon to see if books have left or new ones have been been added and is extremely mindful that there be enough kid books to make it interesting to the little people in the neighbourhood. Curating content at age 5 – way to make a momma proud.
CBC KW has created a definitive map of all the little free libraries in the region. We hope to get added soon.
And thanks to the Little Libraries of KW for organizing a community build at Menno Martin Contractor and creating a culture of #librarylove in the region.
Happy reading, wherever you find your books.
Have you visited a little library? What are your first impressions? What do you think if you don’t care for the books inside?
Red leather booth 