Read All About It, Little Free Library Movement In Da Hood

There are tiny wooden boxes on stilts in the Slope. They look like big birdhouses with books in them instead of birds. They’re little free libraries! There are no due dates, late fees or library cards required. The doors are open 24/7. Take that Brooklyn Public Library! Snap Barnes & Noble!

These little guys have been popping up all over the world ever since some dudes named Todd Bol and Rick Brooks put one outside an art gallery in Madison, WI. Now it’s estimated that there are more than 5,000 Little Free Libraries in 36 countries. This shit is spreading like lice in my kid’s school.

This past summer, in the barbaric borough of Manhattan, there were nine Little Free Libraries set up temporarily through the PEN World Voices Festival and the Architectural League of New York. Well, that shit didn’t work because of a few  things:

1. They were trying to be all fancy with their architecture and put more energy into form than function

2. They gave it a time limit, until Sept 1^st then “no books for you!” Why would I want to get attached to something and then have it disappear like a bag of Oreos?

3. Unlike other Little Free Libraries, they instructed people to take a book and return a book. Whoa! I want the option of taking a book and losing it or, if it’s a lame read, passing it on to an enemy.

4. Peeps were mean to the books and their little home, destroying both with their post-Manhattan-happy-hour aggression. 

The movement encourages you to officially register yours and make that shit too legit to quit. All the info to do so (and more) is on their sweet little Laura Ashley website: http://littlefreelibrary.org.

Crafty bibliophiles have been hopping on the 11215 LFL movement for a while now, but we don’t register them so they ain’t official. Park Slopers are known for their rebellious non-conformity, what with all the moms wearing white after Labor Day. Yeah, we let our freak flags fly. There are only two officially registered in Brooklyn. There is one registered in Prospect Heights @ 85 Saint Marks Ave and the other one is at 391 Marlborough Road. Don’t be a snob – that is in Brooklyn. Geeez.

This is the one where I donate all my used sticky erotica. It’s on 8^th Street between Prospect Park West and 8^th Avenue in Park Slope. It was built by a long-time 8^th Street resident. There is a label on it that reads “8th Street Book Exchange” so it’s not officially an LFL but it’s the same diff. Labels, people, labels! We ain’t about that here.

The cover image was sent in by a Friend o'FIPS, who was very excited to let us know that her “neighbor installed this Little Free Library in their yard so we can all share/re-use books." It’s in the 5^th Avenue and 5^th Street area.

You know you are never going to read The Fountainhead all the way through, so just give it up and donate it to one of our very own little free libraries. I’m sure there are more. Where in the hood have you seen them? Ever borrowed, taken, or given to one of these? Should the Slope’s LFL join the official international movement and register or keep under the radar and be the land of stealth rebel LFLs?