There are people who are angry at Little Free Libraries because they have somehow convinced themselves that they are a plot to drive regular public libraries out of business. Absolute madness.
Little Free Library
41–50 of 107 posts
Re: Little Free Library
#42It's astounding to me that there isn't a cheap mass-produced e-ink device meant for kids to fill the need of paper books yet. We got mandated laptops in the hands of schoolchildren before this!
Color is a problem, isn't it? Also, they have software and as soon as there's software, there's an explosion of over-complication that raises the minimum age limit for being able to use them. This is a bit of a rant but I have a lamp/flashlight that my 4yo can't use because it's too complicated. It has 3 buttons which control 2 separate lights built into the same device. You can spend all day pressing buttons and mak…
Is it? Kids in India learn from black-and-white books in school all the same as colored ones.
I think we used to have this UX problem sorted in the pre-smartphone days. Remember the classic Kindle with tactile keys? It's just a matter of design.
Re: Little Free Library
#43There are people who are angry at Little Free Libraries because they have somehow convinced themselves that they are a plot to drive regular public libraries out of business. Absolute madness.
that's wild because public libraries aren't in business to begin with. they're a public good, they exist to give the public something, not to extract profit from them.
Re: Little Free Library
#44Re: Little Free Library
#45I've known Rick since 2001 and was around when he & Todd kicked this off. We've both since moved and it's been a pleasure watching this take off (inter)nationally. In parens b/c I can only verify the "national" part, personally. :) I look for them whenever I visit new places
I've seen several book boxes in Brisbane, Australia, but neither one that I know the location of has been registered as a little free library.
Hello fellow Brisbanite! Australia has it's own version of this directory - see if you can find it here:
Re: Little Free Library
#46I've known Rick since 2001 and was around when he & Todd kicked this off. We've both since moved and it's been a pleasure watching this take off (inter)nationally. In parens b/c I can only verify the "national" part, personally. :) I look for them whenever I visit new places
We got at least one of these in my home town in central Italy, which is less than 50k people.
I don't think it works particularly well, but then neither does the actual public library, tho I basically grew up in it.
Re: Little Free Library
#47I find these to be cute, romantic almost. But I have never found anything worth borrowing. I wonder what is the real impact in terms of additional books read. I do love the concept of spreading knowledge in the neighborhood. I'd be curious about other similar approaches.
Re: Little Free Library
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
in NA we have to call them "free libraries" because the concept of not having to pay for something is so rare, it has to be clearly indicated upfront! (joking lol, mostly!!)
I think being free is implied in being a library
Some libraries require membership. Also some people have private libraries. Universities often have libraries which, at least, don’t offer all of their services to the general public.
Re: Little Free Library
#49I love the idea but whenever I look in these it’s always the weirdest books and never anything I’ve heard of I guess that is expected though as the unwanted ones build up over time
The ones in my neighborhood are full of religious evangelism titles or bad self-help books.
I cannot and will not advocate the burning of books, but I did get a 13 volume collection of Ann Coulter books... And they did burn well. 415F.
Re: Little Free Library
#50I find these to be cute, romantic almost. But I have never found anything worth borrowing. I wonder what is the real impact in terms of additional books read. I do love the concept of spreading knowledge in the neighborhood. I'd be curious about other similar approaches.
I've found them to be little microcosms of the area where they are: around me, those in wealthy neighborhoods tend to have biopics and non-fiction. Maybe more business or finance focused. Those in my neighborhood (tons of young families) have more casual reading and certainly a lot of fiction.
So that's all to say sorry, your hood is full of boring people. Try finding one in a different area.