Nearby Street Libraries

Street libraries are growing in popularit. It was the existence of a local street library during the COVID lockdowns that provided us a reason to take our children for a walk to check it out now and then. And it was this street library that inspired usto make one - ultimately

Well, first there was our neighbour's street lirbary. The tenant under our good neighbour Mary's house put out an improvised street library one day after lockdowns ended. It was just one of those plastic tubs that you can slide under you bed actually, resting on the very wide stone wall in front of their house. Like this:

The lid was off and an A4 sheet with something like "Library" scrawled on it.

We walked past it every morning on the way to school and every morning dropped a chiuldren's book into it. They always disappeared, which was great, but none returned. Always adult books. So we kept on feeding it, until the library disappeared, I suspect the tenant did. Oh well.

Shrug, so I asked the boys if maybe we should build one. Sure, they said. So we did.

In honour of the way a street library gave us a reason to walk somewhere, we added to it a brochure holder, which we filled with A4 sheets, printed double sided, showing nearby street libraries, acting as a walking guide for anyone who walked to this one. And started a Google map as well of those libraries.

You can find those two additions to the library here:

Guide to Nearby Street Libraries Map of Nearby Street Libraries