Little Free Libraries

Long before there was a library at Blazing Swan there was the Little Free Library movement. That’s the name of the organization behind the cause that inspires people to set up containers of books in their front yard and around their community. People are invited to take a book and/or share a book with others. There’s no charge (hence the title ‘Free’), and generally speaking, they’re on the little side. Anywhere from a shoe-box, to a converted phone booth.

The Little Free Libary organization gives advice about how to make or convert containers to keep books in. But its primary and very useful  function is to allow people to register the location of a library they’ve set up, and use the resulting map to find other free libraries. There’s no hard and fast rule about whether people MUST leave a book if they take a book. In some cases people are encouraged to do so, but in practice once they are set up and become well known, people are glad to find an outlet for their surplus books. Book people have a sometimes well deserved reputation as verging-on-hoarders who can cause anxiety for their less bookish relatives. But they’re also some of the most generous people you’ll meet – in terms of giving books away. Or perhaps that’s the influence of those anxious relatives. In any case, people familiar with the Burning Man Principle of Gifting will recognize what’s going on.

Which leads us back to the Library at Blazing Swan. We thought of registering our Library as an official Little Free Library, back in the early days. But we aren’t there every day of the year, and there is a event ticket price hurdle to get access to our library. What we can point people to is the library in the cafe-bar at the front of the Kulin Hotel and other places around town. In those cases they ask that people leave a gold coin donation for a local charity. You might call that Kulin’s own version of the Principle of Gifting, and it works pretty well because it’s the same Principle that made the massive sports centre happen, and their justifiably famous water slide.