[HN Gopher] Little Free Library
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Little Free Library
Author : Tomte
Score : 82 points
Date : 2022-12-28 12:55 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (littlefreelibrary.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (littlefreelibrary.org)
| smm11 wrote:
| We go on long walks now and then each carrying two or three
| books, stopping at a handful of LFLs. We rarely return with less
| than five other books.
| purplejacket wrote:
| I hired a handy man to build one of these in front of my house a
| year ago and it has been a great project. In fact, I use it as a
| motivation to go out on bike rides in the city. What I do is take
| a chunk of books from my place, go to the next mini-library swap
| them for a chunk of those books, go to the next mini library,
| rinse and repeat. I've become familiar with about a dozen of
| these within a few miles. I know which ones have books that move
| quickly, which ones are slow, which ones are sources
| (oversupply), which ones are sinks (high demand for books there).
| Which ones are good to bring kids books to, etc. I've also found
| local bookstores where I can get extra free books. I often strike
| up interesting conversations with people. For example, one time I
| met a guy who ended up giving me half of his entire book
| collection because he was moving to the country and couldn't keep
| everything. It took a while for me to get that collection to the
| neighboring libraries, there were so many!
|
| Pointers: If you're going to build one of these, don't make them
| too deep! A foot deep is actually sufficient, I think. Not more
| than 14 inches. Multiple levels are great. My favorite mini
| library has 4 levels: a pretty tall bottom level -- some books
| are tall! -- and then gradually shorter as you get to the top one
| which you can fit paperbacks into. Also, quantity: It's nice to
| have a little free space so people feel they can leave books. You
| can put one or more books facing forward so the full front cover
| is viewable. This also makes the library more attractive. Too
| many books is not good. Then it's hard move them around to find
| things. Also, a jumble is no good, I like to keep it pretty well
| arranged. If there are extra books, I just bring them inside for
| my next bike trip.
|
| Have fun!
| exolymph wrote:
| Thank you for being such a good steward of a lovely community
| resource! The LFL near my house occasionally suffers from the
| ailments you mentioned -- jumble, books that have stagnated
| there for months -- but nonetheless it is a delightful stop
| every day when we walk the dog. I love seeing what's new in,
| snagging interesting-looking reads, and I also love
| contributing from my personal library. I do try to rearrange
| the inventory when it's looking a mess, but the idea of
| swapping out chunks with other nearby LFLs hadn't occurred to
| me.
| gaucheries wrote:
| All the other times this was posted:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=littlefreelibrary.org
| subroutine wrote:
| LFL, aka the most reliable way to get a pokemon go stop near your
| house.
| josh_fyi wrote:
| We call these "Guilt Alleviation Stations" where you go to get
| rid of your books. We have always believed that books must be
| treated with respect, yet nowadays, there is less and less reason
| to keep massive numbers of books. Yet there is no market value to
| most books and indeed, few opportunities to give them to charity.
| So, exactly what you need is a place you can come to drop off
| your books and then run away before anyone stops you :-)
| zoklet-enjoyer wrote:
| There are a lot of little free libraries in my area. A few
| years ago I took all of my Goosebumps and Animorphs books that
| were still at my parents house and drove around dropping them
| off. I hope some kids got as much enjoyment out of them as I
| did.
| kurtoid wrote:
| I've help maintain a few nearby and we rotate out books to keep
| them both fresh and relevant
| mbg721 wrote:
| While this is true for regular novels (and the instances near
| me never seem to have anything interesting), they're really
| handy for kids' books. You can freely give and take books as
| the kids get older, without the potential guilt of
| tearing/shredding/spilling-something-on a book from the public
| library.
| Freak_NL wrote:
| It's a great way for the children themselves to get into the
| spirit of sharing and giving.
|
| As for the other books: a good bookcase owner curates and
| tosses out titles that won't ever get taken or borrowed. If
| you don't, the bookcase will stagnate because it's full, but
| nobody is ever taking the books in it out.
| bluGill wrote:
| Find lfl in a poor neighborhood to drop your unwanted books at
| people with nothing can't give back, but they need the help.
| kasey_junk wrote:
| I think this is probably location dependent. Our lfl has as
| many takers as givers so we don't have to deal with unloading
| books ever.
|
| We have had some estate sized drop offs (10x boxes) but those
| we just moved to a few libraries we know don't get as many
| donations.
|
| No one I know has any problem unloading books so drop off guilt
| free!
| yakattak wrote:
| I have a few of these in my city and I can happily say they're
| widely used. Almost every time I have walked by one, someone is
| either withdrawing or depositing a book. Or both! It's a really
| cool idea and I hope we can see more of them.
|
| It's not often a lot of things like this actually go used.
| friesandties wrote:
| In Telluride, Colorado they have a giant "free box" it eats up
| the whole side of a large commercial building on the main road
| - I can't even begin to describe what a watering hole that
| freebox is. So fun to see your jacket on someone else who needs
| it more than you did, but alas, that type of thing is tougher
| in the city with the dumping, trash. It gets used habitually
| everyday by most of the town, and it's wonderful.
| mrtweetyhack wrote:
| [dead]
| ck45 wrote:
| Similar (has been around for maybe 20 years):
| https://www.bookcrossing.com/ which influenced public book cases
| in Germany according to
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_bookcase
|
| The wikipedia article also links to a OSM map
| artisanspam wrote:
| The thing I enjoy the most about these little free libraries is
| that they're small, simple things that rid a neighborhood of the
| feeling of separation and loneliness. Anyone can set them up and
| anyone can use them. They're community building and I love that.
|
| And yet, I know that I personally would never use one. I use an
| e-reader and most of the books I've seen in them don't intrigue
| me.
|
| So does anyone know of any similar projects that can be used for
| community building? Something I find similar is the typewriter
| mailbox I learned of from a Strong Towns blog post:
| https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2021/12/10/the-typewrite...
|
| Unfortunately welding a typewriter to a mailbox isn't as simple
| as buying or building a wooden box on a post.
| themodelplumber wrote:
| Using the "near me" mapping feature I noticed that my area has a
| massive problem with pirate LFLs! It shows three in my small
| city, when I'd guess there are at least 4-5x that number. Will
| not report for now. Would like to see some LFMs for us museum-
| goers.
|
| I have found some very interesting niche books in these things.
| Books which, had they been donated to a public library, the
| Friends of the Library would have sold off immediately, I'd
| guess. (They do a good job of keeping the library materials
| fresh)
|
| Even books like "The Esoteric Compilation of Ryan McPhee" which
| is fictional for example purposes here, but you pick it up and
| find out about the McPheebians from the back cover, and then look
| them up online and discover that they offer a free online diploma
| in World Peace, and you give them a call and the former chapter
| leader ends up teaching you chainsaw carving next week.
|
| Sure, you narrowly escaped joining a definitely-not-a-cult for a
| trial period because you lucked out and met a disaffected
| follower, but also hey check out this gigantic wooden yard
| ornament!
|
| (And this title was tucked in next to all of the more normal
| books of course. One must work for it)
| Eddy_Viscosity2 wrote:
| What is a pirate LFL?
| detaro wrote:
| presumably a joke-y name for one that's not listed on the
| "official" website.
| Freak_NL wrote:
| To name but one of the questions that post raises.
| thepasswordis wrote:
| Somebody who puts up a box of books near their house and
| doesn't give credit to the person who invented the idea:
| https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/that-
| litt...
| AlbertCory wrote:
| It's someone exercising their right to put up a box on their
| own property. I see them all the time and it never occurred
| to me that this was "organized" by grifters in any way (and
| no, I don't have one).
|
| Yes, I said "grifters." No one needs sponsorship for their
| LFL. No one needs to be "registered." If you want to
| contribute to society's literacy, there are lots of
| organizations that do that.
|
| And by the way, public libraries are already free, and
| they're pretty popular, too.
| exegete wrote:
| To use the name "Little Free Library" you pay a fee. There
| are benefits to paying the fee and it helps the non-profit.
| Not sure if the name is trademarked or not or what happens if
| you call your free book exchange "Little Free Library"
| without paying the fee.
| AlbertCory wrote:
| > what happens if you call your free book exchange "Little
| Free Library" without paying the fee
|
| The LFL police come and take it down?
|
| Here's what happens: nothing. You don't get registered in
| their database, and no one cares. People in the
| neighborhood, or those who walk by give & take books,
| exactly as you intended.
| friesandties wrote:
| I'd like all these to be legit/legal - it'd be sweet if we
| could sponsor others' LFL, in essence, be able to lookup a
| pirate location, then license it for those who cannot. I
| had no idea our lfl needed to be legitimized, but I could
| see how it makes sense to offer some sort of understanding
| around where these things are, creating guidelines, ethics
| around them etc.
|
| We are contemplating adding a solar panel to our lfl to
| allow passerby's to charge up their phone for a bit, but
| that is proving difficult to plan for loitering, safety,
| etc. Denver has had a rash of folks taking all the books,
| wrecking the units this year, but it's calmed down a bit
| now that it's winter. I think the more we get used to
| seeing and lfl in the wild, the more it becomes something
| folks expect - maybe switching the colors, adding a
| something seasonal, might be a way to make them always feel
| new and exciting. Gloves, masks, snacks, batteries. Stuff
| that doesn't matter so much to the operator of lfl, can be
| life-changing for a passerby. I always feel a dilemma there
| though, I'm littering the library with lesser materials and
| potentially taking away from the overall goals to just have
| books out there.
| anigbrowl wrote:
| I would like to enjoy simple things without turning them
| into a complex bureaucracy. The idea of a free book swap
| does not need a ton of legal infrastructure.
| kasey_junk wrote:
| I'm not sure if you are joking or not but in case you
| aren't. The lfl organization doesn't legitimize them. It
| sells the kits, gives you a plaque & puts them in an
| online db.
|
| The people putting them up are responsible for following
| all the regulations where they place them.
|
| As someone who runs one I've never engaged with the
| official lfl site at all. We do have a problem every once
| in awhile with people taking all the books but it's not a
| major issue. Our biggest concern is people putting what
| is effectively trash at our library. Broken toys, clothes
| with major holes, single shoes, magazines with water
| damage etc.
|
| One of the reasons libraries work so well is that people
| understand the leave one/take one concept so well with
| books and people know to take care of them. For
| consumable items and other durable goods (like clothes)
| it's less culturally obvious what to do.
|
| So my advice, start your own little food pantry (or
| whatever) or barring that, knock on the door of the lfl
| provider and ask what they want provided? We have a list
| of local places that take such donations including live
| fridges and clothing exchange boxes we send people to who
| want to place items other than books.
| Eddy_Viscosity2 wrote:
| Seems like 'unlicensed LFL' would be better than 'pirate'.
| The latter implying something a bit more sinister.
| Unlicensed ones still serve the same purpose and are run by
| volunteers.
| kasey_junk wrote:
| I suspect the OP was joking...
| friesandties wrote:
| No I wasn't joking, what else would you call my
| particular lfl? I built my own, stole the name and host
| it local so that's kind of where I was going with
| legitimizing lfls that aren't in the proper online db. I
| just felt guilty reading that this morning like whelp, I
| kind of jacked their idea and gave no accreditation, and
| I called it a "Little Free Library" to boot. I'm
| intrigued by lfp now and it seems like keeping those two
| separated or well defined keeps the mission more clear
| and focused. Always loving this place, HN is the last
| corner we can even talk about these things, and I'm blown
| away so many people in our city are really trying to what
| we can to improve each other. Cheers!
| brudgers wrote:
| _what else would you call my particular lfl?_
|
| A library call?
| Eddy_Viscosity2 wrote:
| > what else would you call my particular lfl
|
| 'unregistered lfl' it has the spirit and purpose of an
| lfl, but just isn't registered.
|
| Nothing against the LFL organization, we set up an LFL
| for our neighborhood and did register it. They even sent
| us a bumper sticker. But there are also lots of
| unregistered ones around town as well, free exchange of
| books is the point so it all good.
| RajT88 wrote:
| I have been seeing these around town, not sure how many are
| actual LFL's or just copying the idea.
|
| But I have noticed, like you, questionable books being placed
| in them by what I presume are the local wingnuts who regularly
| make the local news for protesting drag shows in the local
| bars.
|
| I would hazard a guess any LGBT+ friendly books would similarly
| disappear.
| zoklet-enjoyer wrote:
| My girlfriend has had a little free library in her front yard for
| years. It gets a lot of use, especially in the spring. Lots of
| families and college students in her neighborhood. I'm thinking
| about setting up a NAS for ebooks. Or maybe just buy some old
| ebooks from thrift stores and load them up.
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