If you’ve driven or walked down Royce Street at all in this past month, you’ll notice that there is a new little house that was just built. But it’s not a normal house, no, it’s a little library.
“I first saw them when I found one across the street from my mother’s house in Okoboji,” said Royce street resident and recent mayoral candidate Bruce Brown. “I thought, wow, what a great idea! That’s something I want to do with my house. I found out that it’s a whole nonprofit organization and said, sign me up!”
This is not the first time these Little Free Libraries have appeared in the Gazette. Readers may recall last year, in our May 11, 2017 issue a story we did on Megan Rollag of Garretson Insurance, who built one of these Little Libraries with her husband Mike as a tribute to their daughter Lyla. The couple lives in Brandon however, so Bruce Brown is the first Garretson resident to install one.
“It was fun and easy to build,” said Brown. “Their website has several plans ready to go that you can just download and build. I modified my design just a little bit, as I wanted it to match my house exactly once I put it up. Mine is registration #71239. I opened it for business as of May 1st, 2018, and you know what, the day I put it up I had people stop over to look at and then borrow books. That first day, I’d just finished work, went back in the house for a cold drink and then a couple came by walking their dogs and were already having a look. I went out for a chat, and told them about these little libraries and they thought the whole idea was super awesome and after they finished walking their dogs they came back for books. Originally I stocked it with 13 books, a mix of titles and genres, from mysteries, westerns, spy thrillers, kids books and everything in between. Within a couple of days all the books I had originally placed in the little library had changed out. Not a single book of that original stack is still there, they’ve all changed out multiple times. Thankfully, I’ve had help managing the library. I went and spoke to Kris Frerk at the Treasure Chest with the intent of buying a large stack of books to help me keep it stocked, but she declared that she and the Treasure Chest would partner with me and make sure that the library was “always full.” I just want to shout out my thanks to them for the support.”
Not only has Bruce’s Little Library been popular, it’s popular both day and night, as he installed a solar panel powered lighting system.
“Obviously I think these are a great idea and if there is anyone else in town who’d like to install one of these in their own yards, I’d be happy to help them out or get them started,” Brown said. “Feel free to call me at 594-3315. Also littlefreelibrary.org is a great place for information about this nonprofit program.”
Questions and Answers from littlefreelibrary.org:
What is a Little Free Library?
First, Little Free Library is the name of a registered501(c)(3)nonprofit organization that inspires a love of reading, builds community, and sparks creativity by fostering neighborhood book exchanges around the world.
The organization helps people around the world start and maintain free “take a book, return a book” book exchanges called Little Free Libraries. Most Little Free Libraries are placed in front yards, parks, gar- dens and easily accessible locations. The Libraries are built to withstand weather of all kinds and hold 20-100 books. (Continued on Page 2)
