Bookinitat50

OH MY GOODNESS!  

Soooo..... I was on Pinterest and ran into a picture of a "Little Free Library".  I've read a story or two about these before, usually in the old back woods where children have never seen a book before.  Having been a children's librarian and a total book "junkie", the wheels started to turn.  This could be a tempting addition to put up on the corner of our preschool/daycare property.  (Only if Bountiful City ordinances allow for it, of course.)  We have other commercial properties all over Davis County that could be options as well

"Little Free Libraries" are made out of every conceivable thing under the sun, but the premise is this:  "Take a book, Leave a Book."  Little Free Libraries are also referred to as community book exchanges, neighborhood book exchanges, book trading posts, pop-up libraries, and micro-libraries.  I could choose to affiliate with this nonprofit organization, "Little Free Library", (see their web site here at https://littlefreelibrary.org/) or simply do my own thing.  The benefit of joining this organization is that the library is put on a GPS map and you become part of a community, all doing the same cool thing.  I have access to lots of inexpensive books and it would be a "unique" and fun way to not only encourage our students at Ready-Set-Grow to read and possibly neighbors as well.  Books for all ages and stages are used!

My 23 year old son loves woodworking and he is jazzed about helping out!  

 Bountiful, Utah has a wonderful library, but sometimes working moms don't find the time to get their children there.  Maybe this will simply benefit our own students, but either way, it is a cool idea to look in to doing!

Here's a bit of history from the Little Free Library website, that I found interesting.   

Little Free Library inOosthuizen, Netherlands

The first Little Free Library in Hudson, Wisconsin

The idea was popularized in Hudson, Wisconsin, in 2009 when Todd Bol mounted a wooden container designed to look like a school house on a post on his lawn as a tribute to his mother, who was a book lover and school teacher. Bol shared his idea with his partner, Rick Brooks, who spread the word, and the idea spread rapidly. 

The original goal was the creation of 2,150 Little Libraries, which would surpass the number of libraries founded by Andrew Carnegie. As of January 2014, there are over 15,000 Little Libraries worldwide. As of February 2013, all 50 U.S. states and 40 countries worldwide have been involved in the program.   An estimated 1,650,000 books were donated and borrowed from 2010 to 2013.

This number now exceeds 36,000 libraries.