Since the beginning of the Pocket Places Project, the GVPN has shared a bunch of different blog posts about little free libraries (LFLs), and you can find them all here. I wanted to highlight a couple of key posts and assemble resources for people interested in setting up a little free library (LFL) of their own, effectively managing their existing LFL, making their LFL a community hub, and connecting with others in the LFL community.
Getting Started
For those who are interested in setting up a LFL, you can check out our blog post on getting started. This post offers advice on how to build a LFL, from banging one together from scratch, to upcycling old items, or finding a space indoors. When it comes to setting up LFLs, one question we get a lot is about permission or permit requirements from municipalities. This depends on where you are looking to install your LFL.
If you are looking to stick your LFL on the side of your fence or on your front lawn, you likely won’t need to permission from your local municipality. If you are digging a hole for a post, you will want to call before you dig to be safe. If you are living in a co-op or strata, you will want to secure permission/consent of the other residents. While this can take a little negotiation and time, it is a great way to involve more people in the project and build community. If you run into anyone with objections or concerns, get in touch!
If you are looking to install your LFL on a boulevard, you will want to contact your local municipality, as rules and regulations vary from municipality to municipality. You may be required to get a boulevard alteration or gardening permit, follow certain rules about placement, or even submit plans for your LFL.
To install your LFL in a public space, like a park, you will need to get in touch with your respective municipality’s parks department, and start a dialogue. This can take some time, but LFLs in parks definitely see more visitors than those tucked away quiet alleyways. This balances with a little extra wear and tear on the LFL itself. Due to safety requirements, most municipalities will require that their staff to install the LFL. This may come with a cost for labour and materials (the stand, a cement pad if necessary).
Many municipalities will want assurances that someone will be regularly monitoring and managing the LFL, and you may need to put together a small team of neighbours to help manage your LFL. You may also be required to provide insurance. If this is the case, fear not, the GVPN has insurance and has brought a number of LFL projects under our insurance umbrella. Running your project through a local community association, club, or other organization can also be a way of getting insurance coverage. An added bonus is that you get to involve more people in the project!
Costs
We get a lot of questions about costs. It is possible to build and install a LFL at minimal cost. Old dressers, shelving units, boxes, and similar objects make great bases for LFLs, and it is entirely possible to scrounge everything you need to make a beautiful and cost effective LFL. Just be sure to avoid particleboard, like the stuff used to make Ikea furniture, as this material does not last long, and tends to dissolve in our damp climate (you will get one or two years out of your LFL). Asking neighbours can be an effective way to get the random bits of hardware, Plexiglas, and paint you might need to finish your LFL, and a great way to involved and connect with others.
This said, there are often a few costs associated with installing a LFL, after all, few neighbours will have a treated 4×4 post just lying about, or that specific latch or hinge you need for your door. Likewise, if you are looking to install your LFL in a public park, you will need funds to cover the installation costs and the cost of the stand. These kinds of installations are done by a professional crew and typically require an approved stand, which may require the installation of a small cement pad or other alterations to the park. While these costs may seem high on first blush (budget for $500), there are many ways of covering them.
If you are not entirely handy, or have a particular vision for your LFL, want to use ‘exotic’ materials, or just want to hire someone to build an LFL for you, you can expect to pay anywhere from $150 to several hundred dollars. You can also buy ready-to-go LFLs online, for which you can expect to pay at least $350.
Community Grants
Many municipalities offer small community grants to individuals and organizations looking to engage in placemaking in the community. Ask your local municipal government about these funding opportunities and be aware of deadlines – some grants may have a single application deadline, and you may need to apply for your summer LFL installation in the winter. Examples of small community grants include Victoria’s My Great Neighbourhood Grants, Saanich’s Community Building Grants, and Esquimalt’s Community (Local) Grants.
Some grants are only accessible to organizations, rather than individuals. If this is the case, fear not. You have several options:
1) you can reach out to your local community association and see if they would like to collaborate on the project,
2) you can look for other local groups and organizations that might be interested, or
3) you can reach out to the GVPN – we regularly help serve as the organizational sponsor for placemaking project like LFL installations. Get in touch through our web form!
The Pocket Places Project also maintains a waiting list for folks interested in getting an old newspaper box to upcycle into a LFL. If you would like to get your name on this list, get in touch. There are some lovely people in town who occasionally make LFLs, and we let people on this list know about these when they become available. If you are a handy person and would like to help make a LFL for someone, please also get in touch!
Managing Your LFL
Once it’s set up, this blog post offers all sorts of tips for managing your LFL. It recommends such things as regularly tiding books, removing damaged books, curating content, sharing community information, and theming your book collections for holidays.
In addition to whimsical things like decorating LFLs for holidays, these little book boxes serve as hubs for spreading important information and building community. I regularly distribute books marks and leaflets about community events to local LFLs, and the GVPN is currently running a fundraiser to distribute books about Truth and Reconciliation for young people to LFLs around the region. Some LFLs have bulletin boards or special shelves for community information.
Don’t forget, your LFL need not be limited to books. Many LFLs have little boxes for sharing seeds or in addition to books, share household items on their shelves. Our region has LFLs sharing seeds, seedlings and plants, art and art supplies, toys, household items, school supplies, non-perishable food, and even sticks (for dogs). You are limited only by your creativity!
You can find the seed and plant LFLs marked on our map in green. If you are a seed saver and have seed to spare, please drop some off at these LFLs, as they are always in need of seeds.
Free Books for LFLs!
To help keep the growing network of LFLs around the CRD well-stocked with books, the GVPN helps source free books, and regularly hosts free book pickup days. We have partnered with a number of local bookstores, who give us books they can’t sell, but which are too good to be thrown away. It’s a beautiful symbiosis, as LFL people need used books to keep their hungry LFLs sated, and our bookstore friends need to get rid of the books they can’t sell, and nobody likes to see readable books getting pulped.
LFL people recently helped Russell Books clear out thousands of books from their former View St. location, and our friends at Russell Books have donated well over 20,000 books to the project over the past few years. Sorensen Books has also been very generous with books! If you have a ton of books that need a new home, get in touch. If you only have three or four boxes of books, then we usually recommend you just distribute them to LFLs around your neighbourhood.
All of these book pickups are coordinate through an email list. If you have recently installed a LFL, or have never received an email about a book pickup, fill in our web form and get on the list. We also let people know about exciting LFL news (like big milestones), LFL-related projects, and COVID-permitting, organize an annual LFL picnic/gathering. Those who don’t have an LFL but would like to help stock LFLs in their neighbourhood are also welcome to sign up for the email list. If you haven’t received one of these emails this summer, check your spam filter, or get in touch.
Connecting with Others
I have often described LFLs as coral reefs for community – places for people to gather and meet. They are often less about books and more about creating a space for people to connect with one another. When you decorate or theme your LFL for a holiday, you are not just adding whimsy into the urban landscape, but you are also giving people another reason to visit your LFL, and potentially bump into a neighbour.
There are a number of ways that you can develop your LFLs ability to build community. Many LFLs will have a guest book – a coil notebook where people can leave thanks, comments, and in some cases book requests or reviews. During the pandemic, a few LFLs transformed these notebooks into a means of connecting people who needed help, with those who could offer it. One LFL in Royal Oak had a ‘Need Help – Offer Help’ book where for example, someone needing help picking up groceries could connect with someone who could help.
If you’ve come up with an innovative way to use your LFL to increase inter-connectivity in your community, let us know!
Connecting Online
Increasingly, a flourishing community of LFLs has sprung up online across a myriad of platforms. Many people have created profiles for their LFLs on social media, and use these profiles to share daily ‘shelfies’ or other content like inspirational content about books, local news, and the like.
When we set up our LFL in Saanich, my partner and I created a Twitter account for it – @RutledgeParkLFL. Our LFL has become a regular fixture in the growing LFL community on Twitter. You can find a list of all of the LFLs in the CRD that are on Twitter here, and a list of LFLs on Twitter around the world here. I find the interactions between LFLs on Twitter to be a delightful interjecting into what can sometimes be a rather bleak online environment, and our LFL has made friends (human and LFL) around the world.
Because of its reliance on photos, Instagram has also emerged as a major online gathering place for LFLs and LFL owners. People have also created Facebook pages for their LFLs (like the Rocky Point LFL), and there is a small corner of TikTok, or more specifically BookTok, where LFL people share video clips (I love sharing top up videos like this one).
In addition to individual posts, profiles, and pages, a number of online groups for LFLs have sprung up. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but I wanted to highlight a few of these groups:
- The Greater Victoria Placemaking Network Facebook Group – is a great place to connect with placemakers around the region. Be ready to learn about so much more than just LFLs.
- The Sooke Little Free Library Club – is an active and fantastic group for the growing network of LFLs in Sooke and the Westshore.
- The Little Free Libraries, and other Book Exchanges – is a Facebook group that is focused on LFLs in Ontario, but is a great place to get ideas and to connect with other LFL people.
- Canadian Little Libraries and Giving Boxes – is a growing Facebook group that seeks to connect LFL people from across the country.
- If you have an ‘official charter number’ from the folks at Little Free Library.org, you can also join their Little Free Library Stewards group on Facebook.
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There are also a host of other Facebook groups, like this one and this one. All of these groups can be a great place to get ideas and inspiration for your LFL, or just to meet with other people who are at least one interest. I will say this, LFL people never just have one thing in common, so be ready to connect with some interesting folks!
Get out there, visit a local LFL, and get placemaking friends!
