A recent New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development study showed that in many parts of the Detroit area, books are scarce. Photo: Detroit Little Librariesĭespite numerous articles and press releases announcing its renaissance and rebirth, Detroit is still a city that struggles with poverty, with more than 35% of its residents living below the poverty line in 2016. Kathy Henderson stands next to a Little Free Library in Highland Park, Michigan. “They could clean it out in one visit, so I started putting more children’s books in there,” says Weinstein, whose book-exchange box was installed as part of a project to plant 313 of them around the city, effectively making Detroit the Little Free Library capital of the world. It was a ritual they repeated every Friday for almost year. “Did the bus stop get moved?” she wondered.īut the kids were gathered around a wooden box planted in Weinstein’s front yard-a Little Free Library-while the bus driver helped each child pick out a title to take home. When Pam Weinstein first noticed the school bus parked outside her home in Detroit’s Rosedale Park neighborhood and her lawn crowded with children, she thought there was some mistake. The ubiquitous book-exchange boxes now outnumber public library branches in the US about three to one.īut are these seemingly wholesome book boxes helping or hurting staffed libraries? And how are librarians and communities across the country leveraging the presence of these outposts? Little Free Library Capital of the World What started in 2009 with a box on one man’s lawn has spawned 60,000 Little Free Libraries around the globe. You can even find them at beaches, malls, and barbershops. In parks, community centers, and hospitals. A Little Free Library at the LaSalle-Ford Park in Detroit.
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