Bangor Daily News -
It’s hard to know exactly where it began, but a Wisconsin man in 2009
built a model of a one-room schoolhouse, filled it with books and put it
on a post in his front yard. Todd Bol’s schoolhouse book box was the
beginning of the official Little Free Library movement, which aims to
promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges
worldwide.
The grass-roots effort is clearly catching on. As of this June, there were 40,000 registered Little Free Library book exchanges in all 50 states and in over 70 countries. In Maine, there are official Little Free Libraries all over, from Stockholm to York and from Eastport to Mount Vernon. Bangor has six registered libraries, including ones located close to Hayford Park, Broadway Park and in other downtown locales.
Waldo County has no official, registered book exchanges, but sharp-eyed residents may have noticed more small and sometimes whimsical library boxes popping up around the region. Thanks to an effort by the Literacy Volunteers of Waldo County, there are free library boxes located on Bridge Street in Belfast, at the Belfast Transfer Station and at Swan Lake Grocery in Swan Lake. More will be coming soon, according to Denise Pendleton, the coordinator of the local Literacy Volunteers group.
“A volunteer said, ‘I have more books than I know what to do with,’” she said, adding that someone in the group knew about the free library on Spring Street and about the international movement.
And so they decided to start building little libraries of their own.
The grass-roots effort is clearly catching on. As of this June, there were 40,000 registered Little Free Library book exchanges in all 50 states and in over 70 countries. In Maine, there are official Little Free Libraries all over, from Stockholm to York and from Eastport to Mount Vernon. Bangor has six registered libraries, including ones located close to Hayford Park, Broadway Park and in other downtown locales.
Waldo County has no official, registered book exchanges, but sharp-eyed residents may have noticed more small and sometimes whimsical library boxes popping up around the region. Thanks to an effort by the Literacy Volunteers of Waldo County, there are free library boxes located on Bridge Street in Belfast, at the Belfast Transfer Station and at Swan Lake Grocery in Swan Lake. More will be coming soon, according to Denise Pendleton, the coordinator of the local Literacy Volunteers group.
“A volunteer said, ‘I have more books than I know what to do with,’” she said, adding that someone in the group knew about the free library on Spring Street and about the international movement.
And so they decided to start building little libraries of their own.
No comments:
Post a Comment