The name’s memorable, that’s for sure.
The library I volunteer at doesn’t get quite as many Dan Brown books as they did when I started volunteering there in 2012, when I moved back here, but that’s been replaced by Stieg Larsson books and the “Twilight” series.
Anyone remember this story? We’ve had surprisingly few “Fifty Shades” books donated.
We put one in our front yard about a year ago made out of an old cupboard. We put our excess lemons and limes from our trees in a bucket next to it to entice people. It was a slow start but now gets regular visits and has a steady turnover of books without us doing much at all. Some of the books we log on Book Crossing which serves a similar function but the books are allowed to roam free instead of being cooped up in a little book prison.
There’s one near us. I’ve gotten from there, and have donated as well. My wife is a book lover and occasionally “weeds”. Too many cookbooks, though.
Huh? The LFLs are there because someone had the time, ability, knowledge, or money to do it. The kits sold at the LFL website cost many hundreds of dollars. The one I built from scratch was made mostly with scrap wood, but I still spent a bundle on hardware and other incidentals. And you have to own the property, or you lose it when you move out. I know a lot of people who have them. None of them buillt them because they had too many books. They built them because of civic-mindedness.
Personally, I think that it’s poor form to always take books and never give any, but I don’t mind an imbalance. And it’s certainly not necessary to give the same book back: If everyone did that, then there’d never be room for new contributions.
My city’s LFL is located in the downtown area, right next to a bus stop. And the city is very diverse, so it ain’t only the rich people taking advantage of it.
I’ve been thinking about putting one in my yard. We’re in a poor neighborhood and the street is one of the main routes local kids use to get to the high school that’s about 1/2 mile from my house. I have a good spot for it, the end of a retaining wall that separates the yard from my driveway.
I’m thinking I could buy an old busted mini-fridge and use that. I’ll either replace the door or just cut out a hole in it and put in some plexiglass so it has a window. Odds are about equal it will be used as intended, or used as a trash receptacle, or both, but hey, I tried.
I’ve read about some criticisms of LFLs, e.g. that they only exist in places that don’t really need them (i.e. rich white neighborhoods), and/or they contribute to gentrification, and/or they “take away” from actual public libraries, none of which I find particularly compelling.
I give books to my mother in law for hers - which is well used - the books turn over frequently. People tend to take more often than they give - and she needs to curate it a little and throw out the “this just needs to go away” She likes it when I give her my garbage reading - pulp romance novels - those move quick. (The downside is that my mother in law cannot throw things out. So currently in my trash is a 1993 Machinist Ready Reference that she brought over, just in case my son would find it useful - he’s a welder, not a machinist)
She lives in a diverse neighborhood - a lot of old hippies, a lot of immigrants…its the sort of neighborhood where people walk by her LFL to get to the grocery coop up the street. Its close to the University of Minnesota, so people are interested readers - but it isn’t a upper class gentrified neighborhood - its the neighborhood you moved to if you majored in Art History and now manage a little boho coffee shop and your partner teaches English at the middle school.
Annie-Xmas, your town only has one?
There are several here in Arlington. I’ve used them as easy ways to donate books I no longer read. I mostly read e-books, so I don’t usually take books from them, but it makes me happy to see them used.
Only one that I’m aware of. It’s located by the bus stop I use and a few blocks away and one street down from our library. I sometimes take the donated books that we cannot sell to the box.
The library also has a free shelf. The books go from the sale alcove to the free shelf to the LfB. Unless it’s in really bad condition or really offensive, no book gets thrown out.