Give & Take Libraries
COMMUNITY EDITORIAL PANEL
Give and take libraries
BY CLARE CHRISTIE
Have you noticed free-standing cabinets in public around our area? You might have thought at first that it was a bird house (Baie Verte) or a small storage shed (Parrsboro). In Leslieville (Toronto), I would never have opened the door to an obvious hobbit house if my hostess, a neighbour, hadn’t urged me on. All of these and lots more are free libraries. See https://www.pinterest.com/simmonsplg/popup-libraries/.
Sometimes (Tidnish, Amherst Shore) they have glass fronts so you can see the books inside.
You take what books you want and leave what books you think others might like. No one keeps track.
There are at least four free libraries between Parrsboro and Port Greville. The one in Parrsboro has literary pictures on the front and a lawn chair placed invitingly beside it.
I manage the give-and-take library at Amherst Shore, made by my husband, Brian Faught. I remove books so there will be space for contributions, usually books that have been there for a couple of weeks or if there are several by one author, and I add books to maintain diversity.
We have a small children’s section. Hopefully next year cottagers will bring more books to give our children more choice.
It’s wonderful to see a child on tippy-toe looking at the few children’s books presently available.
NOTICE: Since this story was written there is another G&T Library on the land side of the highway at Amherst Shore.
Every library I’ve seen has been individually made and is unique. Brian has advice for would-be builders: don’t make it too big or heavy if it must be moved for winter; glass is expensive - ideally find a ready made door during May curb clean-out; obviously it has to be waterproof - project the roof to give it overhang, whether it’s sloping or pitched; seal the whole structure with caulking so bugs (especially spiders) can’t get in.
Margaret Purdy painted sayings about reading all over the pop-up library her husband, Malcolm McCartney, built at Tidnish. She remarked that writing has to be refreshed each season. I wrote such sayings in coloured pen in a notebook instead - which also gives users a chance to write a note.
Malcolm advises knowing the location you are building for and taking the additional weight of books into account when planning the support for your library.
According to Wikipedia, the idea of “Little Free Libraries...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.”
You can register if you want your library to appear on a world-wide map and contribute to the statistics that are in the hundreds of thousands for locations and books exchanged.
In the meantime, enjoy.
To buy my publications, go to the Amherst Artisan Gallery, Amherst Centre Mall; Maritime Mosaic, Church Street, Amherst; Bev’s Bread, Tidnish Sunday Market; Flying Colours, Maccan; and Main and Station, Parrsboro.
Coles carries My dear Alice.
For my six self-published books and booklets, go to the Cumberland County Museum and Archives and to the YMCA Amherst.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Clare Christie is a member of the Amherst News Community Editorial Panel. She can be reached at clarechristie0@gmail.com.
Give and take libraries
BY CLARE CHRISTIE
Have you noticed free-standing cabinets in public around our area? You might have thought at first that it was a bird house (Baie Verte) or a small storage shed (Parrsboro). In Leslieville (Toronto), I would never have opened the door to an obvious hobbit house if my hostess, a neighbour, hadn’t urged me on. All of these and lots more are free libraries. See https://www.pinterest.com/simmonsplg/popup-libraries/.
Sometimes (Tidnish, Amherst Shore) they have glass fronts so you can see the books inside.
You take what books you want and leave what books you think others might like. No one keeps track.
There are at least four free libraries between Parrsboro and Port Greville. The one in Parrsboro has literary pictures on the front and a lawn chair placed invitingly beside it.
I manage the give-and-take library at Amherst Shore, made by my husband, Brian Faught. I remove books so there will be space for contributions, usually books that have been there for a couple of weeks or if there are several by one author, and I add books to maintain diversity.
We have a small children’s section. Hopefully next year cottagers will bring more books to give our children more choice.
It’s wonderful to see a child on tippy-toe looking at the few children’s books presently available.
NOTICE: Since this story was written there is another G&T Library on the land side of the highway at Amherst Shore.
Every library I’ve seen has been individually made and is unique. Brian has advice for would-be builders: don’t make it too big or heavy if it must be moved for winter; glass is expensive - ideally find a ready made door during May curb clean-out; obviously it has to be waterproof - project the roof to give it overhang, whether it’s sloping or pitched; seal the whole structure with caulking so bugs (especially spiders) can’t get in.
Margaret Purdy painted sayings about reading all over the pop-up library her husband, Malcolm McCartney, built at Tidnish. She remarked that writing has to be refreshed each season. I wrote such sayings in coloured pen in a notebook instead - which also gives users a chance to write a note.
Malcolm advises knowing the location you are building for and taking the additional weight of books into account when planning the support for your library.
According to Wikipedia, the idea of “Little Free Libraries...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.”
You can register if you want your library to appear on a world-wide map and contribute to the statistics that are in the hundreds of thousands for locations and books exchanged.
In the meantime, enjoy.
To buy my publications, go to the Amherst Artisan Gallery, Amherst Centre Mall; Maritime Mosaic, Church Street, Amherst; Bev’s Bread, Tidnish Sunday Market; Flying Colours, Maccan; and Main and Station, Parrsboro.
Coles carries My dear Alice.
For my six self-published books and booklets, go to the Cumberland County Museum and Archives and to the YMCA Amherst.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Clare Christie is a member of the Amherst News Community Editorial Panel. She can be reached at clarechristie0@gmail.com.