For caretakers of free little libraries in Hamilton, it's 'take a book, leave a book,' build a community
CBC
Libby MacDonald likens a little free library to the Stone Soup fable, in which members of a community all share ingredients to make a meal. But instead of food, it's books.
"It has been such a community project every step of the way," said MacDonald who has been the lead caretaker of The Cannon Street Little Free Library for the past six years.
The library is a painted, house-shaped box shaded by the side of MacDonald's house on Cannon Street East. It has the words "take a book, leave a book," and is filled with a variety of titles. On one Monday in May, the library included a mix of novels, comics, children's books and bottles of bubble solution.
The library itself was donated by a local shop class, MacDonald said, and she hadn't even finished setting it up before neighbours filled it with books. "People took to it instantly."
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The little free library community — there are hundreds of these small, outdoor free book dispensaries in neighbourhoods across the country — marks a week dedicated to celebrating their craft, starting Sunday.
In the lead up to the week, several library Hamilton stewards say their book boxes have brought them closer to their neighbours and encouraged a love of reading.
MacDonald said she used to see little free libraries around Toronto when living there before coming to Hamilton.
"When I moved here, one of the reasons I was so stoked to get a corner house was so I could have a library," she told CBC Hamilton.
MacDonald has been nominated for Little Free Library's Todd H. Bol stewards award, named after the Wisconsin resident who built the first Little Free Library in 2009 in the front yard of his home and died in 2018.
She is also a co-administrator of the Hamilton, Ontario Little Free Library Facebook group, in which library stewards and volunteers share tips and tricks, photos and stories. There are dozens of little free libraries in Hamilton.
On Saturday, the group is holding a stewards and volunteer meet-up at the Norman Pinky Lewis Recreation Centre to mark the start of Little Free Library Week.
The Hamilton group is one of three in Canada to receive US$100 from American non-profit Little Free Library, which promotes little libraries across North America. Stewards can register to receive charter numbers and have their libraries appear on a map and in an app the organization maintains.
Two more Canadian groups also received grants: One in Newmarket, Ont., and one in London, Ont., community engagement manager Brianna Stapleton Welch told CBC Hamilton.
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