All About Our Little Free Library
Maybe you have seen our Little Free Library on Canterbury Drive, across from Babbling Brook Park. It sits on our front lawn, overlooking the sidewalk: a wooden box in the shape of a house, filled with books.
Our library has been up since the summer of 2013, and it is well used by the community. In fact, after so many years, it is very much the community’s Little Free Library as much as our own.
The little library movement began in the United States. The late Todd Bol built the first one in 2009 as a tribute to his mother, who had recently passed away. She had been a school teacher and lover of books. To honour her, he designed the little library to look like an old-fashioned schoolhouse. He filled it with books and set it up on his front lawn with a “leave a book, take a book” directive. He never intended to launch an entire movement, but what a legacy to leave behind!
The idea spread quickly, with more and more libraries appearing on private lawns, in front of schools, churches, parks, community organizations, and other public spaces. In 2012, Little Free Library became a nonprofit organization. Each library has a steward: someone responsible for taking care of the books or fixing it up when it breaks down.
The Canyon Meadows LFL is maintained by Roman and Dina and their two boys. In 2013, Roman heard a presentation by Cheri Macauley, a community change-maker who stewards Calgary’s very first LFL. Cheri’s story of the project as a simple but powerful way to connect neighbours was infectious! Our family loves to read and hoard (er…collect…) books, so we already had enough inventory to fill a little library. We decided to give it a go. We only had to “stock” it that first time! For six years, the community has taken care of the structure and the books, and we’ve had lots of lovely chats with lots of lovely people.
Some Fun Facts about our Library:
- We built the library from scratch using a mix of recycled and new materials. After six years, the library has gotten a bit wobbly and worse for wear. We are proud of the way it has held up over the years, but we’re also thinking a touch up is in order. Perhaps during the summer!
- Nowadays, you’ll see a lot of Little Free Libraries all around Calgary. There’s even another one in Canyon Meadows, just outside the Canyon Meadows Elementary School. Our library has one of the earliest charter numbers in the city.
- On the sides of the library, you’ll see a hut on chicken legs. We grew up on Russian fairytales about the wicked witch, Baba Yaga, who lives in a hut on a chicken legs deep in the woods. We wanted to use our little book hut as an homage to these stories – so we put it on two wooden posts instead of one, and Dina painted the fairytale house on both sides.
- In 2016, Canyon Meadows was one of the communities chosen for a city-sponsored arts and beautification project. The Calgary-based Ethiopian artist Sisay Shimeles worked together with the Community Association Board to create paintings on 5 trash bins located throughout the neighbourhood. Sisay did a walking tour of Canyon Meadows, talking with people at their front doors about their favourite things in the neighbourhood. The LFL was mentioned so often that Sisay decided to put it on all 5 of his bins!
- Recently, we’ve added the “Little Free Library Corner” to our community newsletter, the Canyon Meadows Chronicle. Do you have something literary to share with the community? Maybe a review or recommendation, or an article about your favourite book or author, or a top-five list of books in your favourite genre? If you’re interested in contributing, email [email protected].
