A New "Not So Little Library"in the 600 Block of Armstrong Southbound
Great Job Mark !
Armstrong Ave Little Free Library Story
The basic idea started in February 2019 when a friend moved into an apartment and was lamenting that she didn’t have anywhere to put her books, being a guy, I started googling small apartment size libraries and as I was looking through the search, came upon the little free libraries. The seed was planted.
Forward to October 31, 2019, Halloween. To set the stage, when I open my front door, standing outside the door, you see 5 bookshelves filled with about 200 books and various nick knacks. So, the usual group of kids come and go, but toward the end, the doorbell rings and I open the door expecting the usual “trick or treat” and a 5- or 6-year-old boy says “Wow!! Look at all those books!!” I chuckle, his parents chuckle, and the kid just stares at the books.
I wish I had thought of offering him a book, but I didn’t think about it until later. I gave him some candy and off he went. To my surprise, 2 kids later, a young girl, maybe 4 years old, said the exact same thing, after which I thought to myself, why are these kids surprised to see the books?
As I pondered the question that evening, I realized that kids these days don’t have books in their houses, they and their parents all have e-readers and such. My mind went back to February and the little free libraries I had seen online, and I decided I had to build one.
LFL (little free Library) 1.0 December 2019. My first LFL was small, 18” x 18”, I built it out of scraps I had in my garage and as soon as I started putting books into it, I realized it was way too small. Opps, in my excitement, I forgot to consider how many books I wanted to put in it. I decided to see how the neighborhood responded to it and if they used it, I would build a bigger one. They started using it the very next day.
LFL 2.0 June 2020. My second LFL was 3 times the size of the first one, 36” X 36”, I still didn’t like how many books fit into it, and like the first one, was it used a lot. In the back of my mind I was thinking, one day I’ll build a bigger one.
LFL 3.0 April 2024. That day came in July of 2023, I came home from vacation to find my LFL was stuffed with books, I had to remove some books just so they wouldn’t fall out when you opened the door. I decided to build a much bigger LFL 48” by 60”, 3 times bigger than the 2ndone. I built the library in August 2023 and was thinking I should get someone to paint it, as I pondered who I would ask, a friend, Patty Haggerty was talking about a painting she had done and was saying she hadn’t been painting as much as she would have liked to, so I asked her if she had any interest and she said yes. After a few discussions about what I wanted, which I had no real clue,
Patty decided on a jungle theme, partly from my Hawaiian shirts and partly from the Jungle Book books.
While Patty was painting the library, I started going to white elephant sales to buy books to put in the larger LFL.
One such sale was at St. David’s Church; I always go towards the end when they sell the books for less. I asked the woman who was running the book section where I would find books that teens would like, she looked at me funny and I said it was for my new LFL and showed her a picture.
Her immediate reaction was to offer me all the book and before I could say no, she had a group of people boxing them up. They stuffed my car full of books and of course, I gave them a nice donation.
The LFL goes outside, I set this library 6’ back off the sidewalk so it wouldn’t block my view of the street as I pulled out of the driveway, I thought a simple path would work, well, , then I thought someone in a wheelchair might not be able to get to the LFL, so the simple path morphed into a small patio which morphed into a large patio with a bench. LOL some things don’t change. I filled the LFL with books, about 250, and thought, it’s still not big enough. LOL. Right now, I’m fighting the urge to build another one. Who am I kidding, I’ll build another one.
I’d like to thank the people who helped me along the way.
Stephanie Reeves for giving me the reason to research small libraries.
The 6-year-old kid (now about 11) who said, “Wow! Look at all those books”.
Patty Haggerty for painting the LFL.
Patty Haggerty for painting the LFL.
Patty Haggerty for painting the LFL.
I don’t think I can say that enough times. Thank you Patty!!!
Andy Burkert for donating the stone for the patio and helping move the LFL outside.
Erik Dahl for helping me move the LFL outside and installing the doors.
St. David’s Church for all the books.
Everyone (too many to list) who has and continues to, donate books.
Visionary
Mark Harrison
2 comments:
I saw this yesterday when I was driving home. It’s absolutely beautiful.
I absolutely love this. I would love to donate once I get a chance to go through some books. Thank you inspiring so many children to read!!
Post a Comment