Our first Little Library was installed October 22, 2014 on Main Street in Franklin in front of town hall and we're grateful to everyone who came out to help us launch it. If you couldn't make it to the launch, don't worry- the Little Library will be there for you on your next visit to Main Street! We’ve been planning this project for quite a while, so it’s very exciting to have the first Little Library in place and ready to use! We’re also pleased to join with others in the community – Read2Me, the Friends of the Library, the Town of Franklin – to make free books easy for everyone to choose and read. We hope to have many more Little Libraries throughout Macon County, both in the town of Franklin and in the surrounding communities. For this project, we were inspired by the Little Free Libraries, an organization that encourages the sharing of free books, in places where people can easily gather. The mission of the Macon County Public Library is much the same: providing convenient access to all kinds of reading materials and learning opportunities. The Little Library seemed like a great way to get books into the hands of everyone who would like to read, especially kids!
Now that we’ve got one installed and ready to use (we saw someone “take a book” and someone else “leave a book” already!), we’ll see if we need to make any modifications to the design. We’re looking for partners to host the Little Libraries, and woodworkers who might be interested in building some of these. We are exploring a partnership with Franklin High School where students might build some of the Little Libraries.
A dedicated volunteer, Jim Hartje, worked with us to model the Little Library after the timber frame design of the Macon County Public Library. He used a lot of recycled materials in the construction. Some things had to be purchased, and the Friends of the Library funded those. We were able to stock the library with about 80 books, all of which were donated by the Friends of the Library and Read2Me and it weighs about 40 pounds (not counting the weight of the books). Anyone can borrow a book from the Little Library, and they can either return that book or leave a different one. We’ll be monitoring the contents to be sure it always has a variety of reading material for people to choose from.If you’re interested in getting involved or making a donation, please contact the Macon County Public Library at (828) 524-3600 or send us a message through our online contact form. For more photos of the Little Library and the Little Library launch event, visit us on Facebook.