There is a literary craze taking over North America known as ‘Little Free Library’ (LFL) where people build small boxes that they put on their front lawn that act as a small community library.
The boxes are filled with books and people are invited to use the LFL based on a ‘take a book’ and then ‘leave a book’ policy.
Recently, local Fireside resident Sean Higgins decided to take part.
“It is the same idea as a library, but it is right there in the community,” said Higgins. “It is something to do with the family too, after you eat dinner you can go for a little walk and pick out a book.”
If you walk along Fireside Place you would find a nicely crafted wooden box installed on a stand near the end of Higgins’ driveway.
Higgins said the project all started with reading to his two-year-old daughter named Kierra. He said he started to get tired of reading the same books over and over, and his parents told him about all of the LFLs popping up in Austin, Texas, where they used to live.
An online directory at littlefreelibrary.org shows that there are over 25 in Calgary, one in Edmonton, but none in Cochrane. His wife suggested he build one and Higgins went to work making sure it was properly crafted for the harsh winter weather with sealant and insulation on the inside to protect from rain and snow.
Higgins said when he first put it out, he posted about it on a Fireside community Facebook page and it was an instant hit.
“Within a couple hours all the books were gone and the whole thing was full of new books. I check it every day and the books in there circulate quite a bit,” he said.
Higgins said he is really enjoying the system because although there are a lot of adult books, some new children’s books will find their way into the box every few days, allowing them to read a wide variety of books to their daughter.
