On rustic corners and fringing city sidewalks across the country, a low-budget philanthropy is taking root: little kiosks of various shapes and sizes, containing free books for passers-by.
It’s the “Little Free Library” movement, and the concept and bi-laws are basic: take a book, leave a book, read something wonderful.
Like libraries at the micro-level, minus the shushing librarian, each kiosk reflects the literary tastes of its neighborhood. In Sonoma alone there are at least four, adding to the worldwide total of 50,000, and counting.
The movement was co-founded by Richard Brooks, of Madison, Wisconsin, brother of Patricia Brooks, of Sonoma.
Responsible for maintenance of the little library where Second Street West intersects with Blue Wing Drive, Brooks visits her assigned corner regularly.
“I check it daily on my way home from work and make sure we have a diversity of books in there,” Brooks said.
From non-fiction to novels, children’s books to how-to’s, the wide-ranging titles fairly fly off the shelf.
“The grass is all worn down in front of it, and it’s only been up three or four weeks,” Brooks said.
Little Free Libraries exist in all 50 states, and in 70 countries worldwide. Structured as a nonprofit organization, the Little Library’s mission is to build literacy and spark creativity while building community through neighborhood book exchanges. A $40 registration fee is required for participants to host a Little Free Library, which maps the library’s location and assigns a charter number and official signage to each.
Evoking birdhouses or perhaps a doll’s house, the libraries are whimsical and weather-tight. Construction kits are available through the Little Free Library website, with the most affordable “Rustic Book Shed” priced at $292, and it’s uptown cousin - the Walnut Grove - at $895.
Many independent little libraries are built by hobbyists from rough plans, however, and some - like the one on Cherry Avenue in Boyes Hot Springs - are privately sourced.
“Yes, it gets used some,” said Sheryl Elshout, de-facto steward of the kiosk on Cherry. “Tell people to come check it out. They are welcome to take and bring books!”
The Little Free Library organization references these outliers more generically as “book exchanges,” a tomato-tomaaahto differentiation in the end.
The community has embraced the Little Library movement, with children in particular especially engaged. The Library on West Spain Street was built by a fourth grader who still - one year later - soldiers on with its maintenance. The other official Little Free Library sites are on the El Verano Elementary campus, and in Agua Caliente, on Central Avenue.
Over on Second Street, Patricia Brooks recently found a child in tears, distraught that the books she’d left hadn’t yet been borrowed.
“As soon as she left I ran over and got them,” Brooks said, ever vigilant in her mission to spread literacy and goodwill.
Branded “a global sensation” by the New York Times and a “social movement” by the Huffington Post, the Little Free Library phenomenon has garnered a lot of attention.
If there’s a downside, Brooks worries it’s this: “I feel a little bit guilty about not patronizing our local bookstore as much as I used to since we have the library. I haven’t bought a new book in probably four weeks,” she said.
Those worries are misplaced, according to Readers’ Books owner Andy Weinberger.
“Anything that expands reading and communication is a good idea,” Weinberger said, with impressive magnanimity. “We’d give books away too, but we’d go out of business.”
Email Kate at kate.williams@sonomanews.com.
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