Sliding into the driver’s seat on a gray rainy day a little late for work a flash of color fluttered by the windshield – a monarch butterfly, in no particular hurry on its way to the next flower. I seem to remember a butterfly on the PBS show “Reading Rainbow”, which celebrated reading, books, and where stories can take you. Books make their way to the Keep Alliance Beautiful Recycling Center ranging from almost new text books to well-loved classics that passed through many hands. While I would rather see a book become paper for a new novel than decompose in a garbage heap, the “reuse” option is my preference.
Little Free Libraries, “a nonprofit organization with a mission to build community, inspire readers and expand book access for all through a global network”, has given millions of books a means to find fresh eyes. I have enjoyed finding these bread box-sized libraries while traveling in recent years. Leaving a book or two is a goal after bringing a handful home. The first local library I noticed was the train car in front of Dairy Queen, which my family likes to check when we take the time to go in rather than take the drive through. There is usually a fun assortment with a few books we read to the kids years ago.
Recently I noticed a lavender library along a street I often travel and asked if I could grab a photo and hear the story behind it. The little building perched on a post has been there for months, it turns out. Patricia Jones explained it was a Mother’s Day gift from her children that her husband, Earl, painted and put near the curb and sidewalk after checking with the City.
Anyone who opens the doors will find a mix of adult fiction, young adult fiction and children’s books along with a few cookbooks and magazines, she said. “Some of it is classic literature, some is quick, easy reads.”
Patricia checks the library a couple times a week. “People leave so many books it amuses me no end,” she said, explaining some donations are not anonymous with people coming to the door to drop off a stack of books. “People also take books. I’m surprised at the ones they don’t take.” Earl said “Call of the Wild” went right away. Patricia added that cookbooks also disappear quickly.
Though their library is not a registered Little Free Library, Patricia said, “We’ve always been into the idea of little libraries. . . . I certainly hope people keep taking books.”
The Joneses mentioned another library at 2736 Laramie Drive in Alliance and one outside the Mobius building in Hemingford. I stopped at Mobius to empty their recycling bin the next day and asked Susan Morava, CFO, about what I had thought driving by was a mailbox.
Susan said the Little Free Library, registered and chartered, has been there since January 2022. “Surprisingly yes,” she affirmed, lots of books have been in and out of the rectangular red box. “The most usage now is adult books.”
Restocking is never a problem as Susan has “a real good group of readers that donate books to me and I have a lot of my personal books in there. . . Everybody (at Mobius) has been really generous with their books. A young gal in town has donated probably 100 children’s books.” She added, “I take books from there and put in other (little free) libraries when I travel.”
When Susan has too many books she donates them to the Mission Store, then when she is running low she returns to buy them there.
“I just love sharing books to read. I asked the (Hemingford Public) library if they were okay with it before putting it up. I agree it’s ok to give books a second life.”
For information on joining more than 200,000 miniature neighborhood libraries around the world visit: littlefreelibrary.org