Book It: Bring a Mini Library to Your Front Yard
Take a book, leave a book. An ingenious lending-library idea is sweeping the nation — see if it's right for your neighborhood
Little Free Library owners may purchase a charter for $35 that puts their library in the organization’s database and affords them discounts and information about keeping, maintaining and promoting their libraries.
Bol is most proud of the way Little Free Library is bringing communities together. “It’s started a neighborhood exchange. It gets people talking and more comfortable with their neighbors,” he says. “This leads to them helping each other.”
Bol is most proud of the way Little Free Library is bringing communities together. “It’s started a neighborhood exchange. It gets people talking and more comfortable with their neighbors,” he says. “This leads to them helping each other.”
Almost every library is unique. This one in Northern California was built out of a used wine crate.
Little Free Libraries are all over the world. Go to the organization's site for a world map of front-yard libraries and to see how to make your own.
Poll: Do you have a mini library in your front yard, or are you inspired to try one? Take our poll
Poll: Do you have a mini library in your front yard, or are you inspired to try one? Take our poll
Bol’s prototype spawned Little Free Library, a nonprofit that seeks to place small, accessible book exchange boxes in neighborhoods around the world. Users can purchase the boxes directly from LFL’s website, download plans to build their own or completely wing it.
The concept is simple: A house-shaped box in a neighborhood holds a few dozen books. Neighbors are invited to share a book, leave a book or both.
The LFL almost always uses recycled materials for the custom libraries it sells online, for an average cost of $250 to $500, but it also offers plans for making your own.