For those who enjoy reading, getting a free book feels like Christmas morning. Luckily, avid readers in the Duluth area now have many opportunities to expand their personal libraries for free. The Little Free Library project, started in Hudson, Wis., in 2009, has registered libraries all over the world. Through the Little Free Library program, owners can pay $25 to register their libraries, and have them put on the list of little libraries in the United States. People can buy a box from the Little Free Library website, or can build a DIY library.
The Little Free Library project runs on the idea that you can’t steal a free book. Each Little Free Library is different. The books in the libraries are diverse. Each library in Duluth that I visited had a variety of books, and I was surprised at the quality of the books. For instance, the library outside the Dorothy Day house at 1712 Jefferson Street had a variety of plays and philosophy books. Local Little Free Library enthusiast Joetta Snow placed a library at 4005 Dodge Street. She found out about the Little Free Library Project through a magazine. She purchased a box, and keeps it stocked with books donated by members of her book club, and neighbors.
Snow said, “Little Free Library promotes community and offers folks an opportunity to borrow a book without going to Mount Royal or downtown to the library. It is also a nice family activity where parents bring a child and let the child select a book or share one of their own.”
Anyone can participate in the Little Free Library project, and you never know what you might find. More information can be found at www.littlefreelibrary.org.
BY Liz Brown brow3354@d.umn.edu