LFL Founders Todd Bol and Rick Brooks

Little Free Libraries are inspired by a mother’s love of books.

Todd Bol built a tiny structure resembling a one-room schoolhouse, filled it with books and put it in his yard in Hudson, Wisconsin in 2009. He added a small sign indicating that those who took a book would return a book and with that simple idea the international movement called Little Free Libraries was born.

With more than 8,000 libraries in 36 countries, including several around Boulder, these little libraries (think the size of a birdhouse, filled with books) are making a major impact on communities.

Bol, together with friend and fellow visionary, Richard Brooks, began their pay-it-forward vision with the idea of planting and eclipsing the 2,510 libraries bearing philanthropist Andrew Carnegie’s name. They have far surpassed that goal, and now they have plans to place 1,000 libraries in Africa to promote education and stimulate the joy of reading and literacy there. Another goal is to place a library in 11,000 small towns in America that don’t have one.

Armstrong’s Garden

 Book by Book

Little Free Libraries are crafted by a wide-ranging group of people, including Wisconsin prison inmates who donate their boxes to non-profit groups and communities hit by natural disasters.

Amish craftsmen built the Little Free Library in former librarian Kari Armstrong’s garden. Originally purchased in Madison, WI, Armstrong took it with her when she moved to Boulder in 2011. Armstrong’s library bears a placard declaring her box to be number two on the worldwide map of Little Free Libraries. “I enjoy being involved in something without rules,” Armstrong says. “Some people will say they don’t have a book to leave and I say there are no rules.”

Spruce Tree Library

Inspired by Armstrong’s library, nearby by neighbors got together and created library #249 from a recycled bookshelf and added a unique beveled-glass prism on top. They placed it under a spruce tree with a backdrop of the famed Flatirons.

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Little Library on 43rd Street

When Ellen Steward saw Armstrong’s box she knew she had to have one; her father-in-law surprised her with library #4076. “We filled it with our own books and then had a grand opening and everyone contributed. Folks are eager to share. It brings people out of their homes, they talk to us and we get to know them. It’s more than just about books,” says Steward, who stamps all books with the Little Free Library on 43^rd Street stamp in hopes she’ll one day find one somewhere else.

Bol hopes all stewards register their boxes in exchange for a handmade wooden placard declaring their box number and bragging rights on the world map.

Reading in Spires

Works of Art

 The NoBo Art District is spearheading the development of six Little Free Libraries in north Boulder to create art sculptures that house books in neighborhoods without access to a library. “We have 200 artists who live and work in this area and we wanted to do a project that would enhance the community,” says Annette Coleman, president of the NoBo Art District. “We knew there was a need for a library here as our diverse population doesn’t necessarily have Internet access. Books are their first entrée into reading and imagination. We put out a call to artists to create sculptural libraries to reflect who lives and works in our neighborhood.”

Rocketship Library

Tinker Art Studio owner, Christie Slater, along with fellow tinkerer, Jonathan Davis, created Reading in Spires. The 6-ft. tall, 1,500-lb uniquely creative sculpture holds hundreds of books and is installed in Holiday Park. “It’s a way of building community within our very diverse area,” says Slater.

Little Free Libraries have also popped up in south Boulder thanks to the Friends of Martin Park who worked with the City of Boulder to approve a library in the park. Third-grade students at Creekside Elementary School decorated 42 ceramic tiles which adorn the library box. Look for another little library in front of Creekside thanks to book lovers Kendall Miller and Paula Vaughan.

Todd Bol built his first library as a tribute to his mother, and today his desire to act locally, think globally, and build good neighbors is leaving a lasting legacy around the world.

(This article first appeared in Boulder Lifestyle Magazine, August 2013)