“Check out” Union South’s Little Free Library
No, that’s not a bird house nestled between newspaper and magazine bins beneath Union South’s central staircase. The dark stained wooden box houses not Robins or Blue Jays, but it does welcome “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
This is Little Free Library.
If you haven’t seen one of these miniature book boxes on a street corner, front yard or public building, you probably will soon. There are over 15,000 Little Free Libraries worldwide, and the number continues to grow.
For those of you not familiar with Little Free Library, here’s how it works:
- Anyone is able to buy or construct their own Little Free Library. Book containers vary in design, and are made official with a Little Free Library sign that can be ordered off Little Free Library’s website.
- People place books they’ve finished reading or would like to share with others into the box.
- Eventually, the community begins to take and give their own books, like a free book trading post.
Little Free Library started in 2009 when Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin built a book container shaped like a one-room schoolhouse to honor his mother, who was a teacher and loved to read. Todd placed books inside the box to give away for free, and began building and giving away the increasingly popular boxes to friends and neighbors. With the help of Beloit College grad Rick Brooks, who had a keen eye for social marketing, and all the people who took to the idea early by buying boxes and placing them in their yards, Todd’s idea grew into the worldwide project that Little Free Library is today.
According to the official Little Free Library website, their mission statement includes building “a sense of community as we share skills, creativity and wisdom across generations,” and at the same time “promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide.”
Building a literary community is one of the main reasons Wisconsin Union Directorate Publications Director Ally Jagodzinski helped lead the project of bringing Little Free Library’s “take a book, return a book” ideology to Union South. Ally got the concept from Little Free Library Environmental Community Engagement Coordinator Julia Kinsey who brought the idea to WUD.
Along with WUD Board Member Jake Heyka, Julia and Ally carried out an even larger project in April, installing 12 Little Free Libraries throughout the Madison area and Dane County that were built by UW student organization members and local nonprofit representatives. Some of the locations that the libraries went up include the Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Porchlight and the Kennedy Heights Community Center.
“Taking and giving—it’s a community aspect that embodies the Union,” Ally said. “Within an hour of putting the Little Free Library up, people were already putting books in there. We also threw in some of our own Wisconsin Union Directorate magazines and other publications.”
Ally hoped to bring Little Free Library to Memorial Union as well, but due to construction concerns and budget allotment, for now Union South will be home to the free book trading center.
Have you “checked out” any of the books in the new Little Free Library in Union South? Let us know in the comments section below!
