Have a book to share or want to borrow a book? Instead of going to your regular public library, you can check out one of the Little Free Libraries that have been showing up around Cleveland and other cities across the U.S.
A friend of mine recently told me about a large birdhouse like structure that he saw that had books in it that he saw while jogging in Cleveland Heights. Turns out that this was part of the Little Free Library Movement, which in recent years was created to get the community excited about reading and to promote literacy.
Basically a Little Free Library it is a bookshelf in a waterproof house structure. Anyone can take a book or leave a book, without signing in or checking anything out. The project started in Wisconsin in 2009, and has now spread to many states in the U.S. including Ohio
This summer, the Cleveland Heights-University Heights Public Library installed the first of three Little Free Libraries that are to be created in the community. An article in the Plain Dealer this past weekend reported that Bob Cheshier, a member of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland Heights recently raised money to build and install a Little Free Library near Miles Park School.
The Cleveland Public Library installed two Little Free Libraries in Cleveland, and the community was invited to help decorate them on September 15th of the Main Library. The Little Free Libraries were installed near Dave’s Supermarket located at 3301 Payne Avenue, Cleveland and at West 25th & Clark, where the organization Esperanza and Seeds of Literacy are located.
If you or community is interested in building a Little Free Library, there are direction on the Little Free Library website. There are variety of designs which range from looking like a barn, a house or schoolhouse.
When the rain lets up today, I am going to go to bring one of my Harry Potter books to the Little Free Library – and see if there is anything for me to read.
Image Source:
Cleveland Heights Patch
www.littlefreelibrary.org
Links:
http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/