Little Libraries turn pages to new opportunities
Little Libraries, like this one on Mangels Avenue, offers free books to anyone, and encourages people to leave a book for someone else.
March 3, 2023
Walking up to the green box, the door opens, revealing a plethora of people’s favorite or discarded books inside. Opening a book, the smell of old paper explodes while a new, unique, and unexpected story emerges from the ink. Above the door there is a silver plaque: Little Free Libraries.
The organization’s website states, “A Little Free Library is a free book-sharing box where anyone may take a book or share a book. They function on the honor system. You do not need to share a book in order to take one. If you take a book or two from a little library, try to bring some to share to that same library, or another in your area, when you can.”
English teacher Brian Kosewic ’16 said, “Little libraries offer fun, whimsical experiences.”
Kosewic added, “Little libraries offer opportunities for people to come into contact with books. Reading is one of the best and most rewarding ways we can engage with language, and language is probably the main way that we as humans make sense of the world and ourselves.”
Steward of a little library Tien Peng said, “We opened the library because we have a lot of books to share with other people. Little libraries feel like we are living in a nice little community and are a great way to find books that are not in a traditional library. A library is not the best way of looking at little libraries; it is just a way of sharing books with people I don’t know.”
Owner of Liberia Pino bookstore Joseph Carboni said, “Little libraries are a good idea for promoting literacy and book reading in general, but they compete with my free used books inside my store that attract customers.”
Will Parker ’24 said, “Some of my favorite books I have found in little libraries. It is only after being tired from practice and school all day that I am overjoyed to stop and find a potential good read.
Kosewic responded, “I think a big part of being able to experience the world in a meaningful way is being open to surprise and being open to the unexpected and I think physical books offer that because when you go to a little library it doesn’t give you access to every little book ever, but it gives you access to 20 or 30 books that you might not have ever heard about otherwise, and that is something really special.”