Converted from an old newspaper vending box
Does your neighborhood have a book exchange box (see photo), often called a Little Free Library? If you walk or bike much on the streets near your home, you most likely know the answer to this question. Rocky Point, my neighborhood, has one. Marine Drive, a smaller neighborhood just to the west of us, has three. Perhaps Marine Drive has more readers and more community spirit.
The Little Free Library web site explains all about the book-sharing movement. There are thousands of Little Free Libraries worldwide. As the web site explains, these help build community, spark creativity, and inspire readers. Book exchanges registered with the Little Free Library organization can benefit from its experience and also add the location of their library to an online map. The web site sells beautiful book boxes for people who want to start an exchange but don’t have time to make their own.
Of course, a book exchange doesn’t need to be registered with the Little Free Library organization to be successful. In fact, I think only one of the Marine Drive book exchanges is part of the program. None of the three show up on its locator map. Yet, all three have two important essentials: a weatherproof book box filled with books and a good location. The latter means a spot with plenty of foot traffic and perhaps a parking place or two for book lovers who want to arrive by car.
The exchange books aren’t listed in an online catalog and you can’t be sure what’s going to be “checked in” until you get there. There aren’t any reservations or library cards. Many of the books are several years old or more and are long gone from bestseller lists. But that’s OK if you missed them the first time around. Getting a second chance on a book you wanted to read is part of the attraction of using a book exchange.
So who sponsors the three Marine Drive book exchanges? I’m guessing it is someone who lives nearby. If you use one of them, you probably know who started it and keeps it going.
I read a lot. I get almost everything I read from the Kitsap Regional Library. None of its branches are close enough for me to walk or bike to. I should try the book exchange in my neighborhood. It’s just outside the front entrance to Olympic Mountain Rescue.
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