
RIP Todd Bol, Inventor of ‘Little Free Libraries’ - okfine
https://www.weeklystandard.com/ethan-epstein/rip-ted-bol-inventor-little-free-libraries
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jmcphers
I built one of these with my kids (5 and 7 at the time), and painted it to
look just like our house. I expected it to stand unnoticed in the corner of
our driveway as people buzzed past in their SUVs.

That's not at all what happened. People come by -- kids on bicycles, parents
with strollers, even elderly folks on a walk. They take and leave books.
Sometimes they're people we know, and sometimes they're people we don't. It's
a wonderful thing. RIP, Todd.

~~~
craftyguy
Do you have any tips on how to build one and start one up?

Edit: just found this
[https://littlefreelibrary.org/build/](https://littlefreelibrary.org/build/)

~~~
elandrum
Also for good ideas, check out Pinterest for little free libraries. I got some
neat ideas from there. I ended up building mine around a neat old window I got
from a reclaimed housing parts yard. Was really fun to have it in my yard!

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davepeck
There are eight little free libraries within five blocks of our house in
Seattle. My 3yo _loves_ them. A fun activity is to walk around the
neighborhood, check each library in turn, and discover new books. It's hard to
understate how impactful this simple idea has been on my daughter's life and,
I hope, on the lives of many others like her. RIP, Todd Bol.

~~~
mixedmath
I wonder if you meant "understand" or "overstate" instead of "understate"?

~~~
davepeck
Oops. Good catch. I meant “overstate”. That’s what too little sleep and too
much caffeine will lead to, perhaps.

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davemp
This is such a neat idea. I can see building a Little, Free Library being an
interesting project. Add a solar embedded stack [1] to it and you could add
some fun features such as: shelf time tracking (maybe to replace never read
books), number of checkouts/returns, etc. I'm not sure if adding connectivity
would be keeping with the spirit of the project, but it opens up even more
interesting social possibilities.

In general, I love the idea of projects/technology that encourage interaction
in the physical world. (See the first week or so of Pokémon Go).

[1]: [https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2018/09/how-to-build-a-
low...](https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2018/09/how-to-build-a-lowtech-
website.html) is an example of a website run on such a stack

~~~
glenneroo
Nice idea! Also, if the books happen to be registered with BookCrossing, they
are given a unique ID which you could potentially use for even more social
interaction.

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zafiro17
There are dozens of these in my neighborhood in Washington DC and they're huge
hits. I see people of all backgrounds and languages perusing, sorting, maybe
giving the books a quick shuffle. They're generally well-treated and well-
respected. There was one that got bashed up a few weeks ago, but it reappeared
a few days later, patched up. In general they are well-loved parts of the
community, and a reason to have just a little remaining faith in the goodness
of humanity. RIP Todd, you did a wonderful thing. (You also gave me a great
way to unload my own library, book by book by book over the past few years).

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kevmo
Community-centered spaces like Free Little Libraries have a tremendous impact.
They become hubs for knowledge and alliances between neighbors. They foster
more resilient communities. Thanks, Todd.

[https://littlefreelibrary.org/build/](https://littlefreelibrary.org/build/)

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crucialfelix
These are all over Germany, many predating the Little Free Library.

Some of them from the 90s:
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_%C3%B6ffentlicher_B%C3%B...](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_%C3%B6ffentlicher_B%C3%BCcherschr%C3%A4nke_in_Deutschland)

I get the feeling they were around for a lot longer than that, but only the
recent ones got listed online.

~~~
imhoguy
Wow, that one is cool - made of retired fridges:
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_%C3%B6ffentlicher_B%C3%B...](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_%C3%B6ffentlicher_B%C3%BCcherschr%C3%A4nke_in_Deutschland#/media/File:B%C3%BCcherregal_Freiburg-
Beurbarung.jpg)

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apo
There's a recent interview with Bol here:

[http://www.startribune.com/after-cancer-diagnosis-little-
fre...](http://www.startribune.com/after-cancer-diagnosis-little-free-library-
founder-todd-bol-feels-like-most-successful-person-i-know/497826391/)

~~~
strictnein
Jesus... that editor's note.

~~~
invalidusernam3
The closing paragraph is especially pertinent:

“I think there’s a bright future for Little Free Library as long as there are
books around and the people who love them,” she said. “But there’s no
replacing Todd, that’s for sure.”

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abawany
I never knew the idea was as recent as 2009 - I had naively assumed that they
had been around since forever. RIP - he made the world a better place.

~~~
newnewpdro
The concept isn't that recent.

I've encountered them in various forms throughout the years, but the
popularity has ramped up in the last decade as paper books became increasingly
obsolete.

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RyJones
There are two within a short walk of my place. They're pretty cool! On summer
evenings there are frequently parents with kids reading on the bench or
picking up a book.

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cafard
This summer I led an ESL class along a street where there was one, and stopped
to point it out. A grandmother picked out a book for her granddaughter; I
forget whether anyone else picked something out.

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duxup
My doctor's office has one. My kids love going there and seeing what might be
there and adding books.

The idea that someone else put their book there and that they can really gets
them excited.

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tzs
On the one hand, that's cool. Anything that makes a place kids have to go that
is often scary and unpleasant nicer is good.

On the other hand...kids aren't always the most hygienic when it comes to
handling thing. Is there any concern that sick kids leaving books might spread
their sickness? Or are the kind of communicable sicknesses that kids get that
send them to the doctor (as opposed to, say, the emergency room) the kind that
don't really spread through casual sharing of objects, so it doesn't matter?

~~~
duxup
I feel like kids are just contagious by default and your typical kid at a
clinic has a cold just like the kid in school with a cold.

Despite some outliers, most folks aren't carrying terrible diseases so I don't
sweat it.

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artursapek
I've seen these things around Boulder and had no idea it was such a widespread
phenomena. The greatest people do things completely unprompted like this. RIP.

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Insanity
We have a few in the city where I live (Belgium). I think it's a quite great
idea - the ones I know are located near schools as well which might help
children pick up an interesting book.

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minikites
While I believe the LFL idea originated from an honorable place, we need to do
more to support actual libraries and (much more importantly) the staff there
who play an important role in public education and assisting patrons in
evaluating information:

[https://www.citylab.com/life/2017/05/the-case-against-
little...](https://www.citylab.com/life/2017/05/the-case-against-little-free-
libraries/523533/)

>“As a librarian, my gut reaction to that was, ‘You know what else is a free
library? A regular library.’”

~~~
mikeash
I don’t see these taking away from normal libraries in any way. Why is this
the reaction?

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minikites
It reinforces the notion that libraries are just self-service book warehouses,
complete ignoring the role that curation plays and ignoring the essential
services that a traditional library provides (reference services, interlibrary
lending, etc)

