Little Free Libraries Featured on HGTV
Decatur Metro | January 3, 2014
Daren points to this new feature on HGTVgardens.com that features many of the “international phenomenon” Little Free Libraries from around Decatur and Atlanta.
Ah, I remember when these were just a first glimmer in our collective eye. Was the Wilton Drive library the first one set up in Atlanta?
Photo courtesy of HGTV Gardens
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Don’t know if Wilton Drive was the first but it definitely predated the big invasion of LFLs that occurred during the 2012 Decatur Book Festival.
Related question: How many Little Free Libraries exist in Decatur? Here’s the locations I know about but I know I’ve seen many more and just can’t recall them:
– In front of City Hall
– In front of Dancing Goats
– Oakhurst Elementary
– Wilton
– Lamont/Vidal intersection, north
Where else?
And what impact do we think they’ve had? Increased reading for fun? Kept hardcopy books in circulation? Helped folks cleaning out their bookshelves? Replaced trips to the library? Have they been raided by vandals or thieves often?
Just remembered that there’s one somewhere in Glennwood Estates because they were major contenders in the LFL bidding war during the 2012 DBF. I believe they got the Pete the Cat LFL.
For some reason, my previous post got zapped…
As of last summer, there were at least three LFLs on SEcond Ave. between East Lake and Hosea. And I lost count of how many more were scattered about the SW quadrant, maybe as many as half a dozen. Wouldn’t be surprised if they are sprouting around Kirkwood these days.
There’s one in Glen Lake Park that’s almost always empty. There’s one full of children’s books in front of College Heights.
East Lake Rd. has one.
I believe the first in metro Atlanta was off N. Druid Hills Rd. and belonged to David and Geri Laufer. They contacted the DBF about the idea, and we went from there..
Clairemont ES has one. We took our “first day of school” photo in front of it this year.
There’s one on Woodlawn, one in Glenlake Park in addition to the one on Glenwood at the path entrance to the park, two together in downtown Oakhurst near Saba, one in the Great Lakes (I think it’s Seneca and Huron, at the little park), and one on Sycamore in the front lawn of a church.
here are some in Oakhurst
– Oakhurst Village Harmony Park
– Second Ave
– Madison Ave
– West Hill St
– 4th Ave
– others i’m forgetting…
Third Ave. too.
Dogwood Way
One in front of Winnona Park Elementary. Re: impact: My child has enjoyed browsing and been inspired to at least explore (if not actually read) more genres because such a wide variety will exist in such a small space.
And one on Inman at the steps leading down to WP field.
Which reminds me – I’ve got a wealth of books for the 2nd and 3rd grade crowd (chapter books like My Weird School and Lunch Lady). . . Any LFL in particular that could benefit from the donation? I know that we could drop them pretty much anywhere and will probably disperse amongst the elementary schools, but was curious if there was one sorely in need of this age range.
I have wondered about the LFLs: do people return the books regularly?
People don’t usually return the book they borrow–sometimes a book reappears, but many people probably pass books on to friends or deposit them in other LFLs. People bring books and take books, and it all just works out. With our LFL, pretty much all we do is straighten the books once a week or so. Otherwise it self-maintains. We add books sometimes, and sometimes someone leaves a book that we take out to read ourselves. So, it’s not like a regular library. I think there’s also some exchanging that occurs among the LFLs in Decatur.
I purposefully mix them up sometimes if one is bursting with books and another has gotten low and/or stale.
In the Oak Grove area, I know there’s 1 on Coralwood and 1 on Whispering Pines.
Here’s a map from the LFL site: http://littlefreelibrary.org/ourmap/
Unfortunately, a lot of the Decatur LFLs must not be registered because they are not showing up on the map. We should be an intensely clustered concentration of dots!
Think there is one on Kathryn Ave too
Are magazines acceptable? I have many Southern Living magazines that I hate to just recycle.
old folks’ homes
LFLs could get clogged up quickly with magazines. I’d only donate those that you are sure will be snatched up quickly. Question is which ones those are. Real subjective call. I would say Southern Living–no, but National Geographic–yes. But maybe I’m all wrong.