Street libraries

came into being around here during the lock downs associated with the Covid19 pandemic. I have been looking at them ever since. 

Our local library, the most used service in our community, was closed for weeks. (There was a rather complicated process by which you could borrow a book if you knew what you wanted.)The local bookshop was closed. (You could phone in or send an email and, if they happened to have what you wanted, you could go through another rather complicated process to get it.)

What you could not do was browse the shelves in either place. People could not go to church or to any sort of social outing so exchanging books that way was not possible. Occasionally people would leave books in letter boxes for their friends or neighbours when out on the limited amount of physical exercise allowed on the streets. Life was very different.

And, suddenly, we had "street libraries". Some of them were nothing more than a cardboard box of books saying, "Help yourself". Most of them disappeared when the lock downs were over but some have remained.

There is one which has been fitted into the corner of an old "corner shop". There are several shelves and a seat underneath. The usual pleas to keep the place tidy get renewed from time to time. If I happen to be passing (it is not on my normal route) I will stop and look and tidy it. I have put books we no longer want down there. They have always gone when I next look. 

There is another which is an old cupboard. Someone, presumably in the house behind it, opens it each morning. Two local churches have similar arrangements. I also like the one in the next suburb which is shaped like a bird house...I hope it doesn't confuse the birds!

And yes, I have found treasures there. At the beginning of winter I found a manuscript copy of Handel's Messiah. It was well marked, as if someone had used it more than once to go to a "sing it yourself" performance. I have my own copy but I knew someone who wanted another one so I "borrowed" it and put five paperbacks there instead. They had gone before I made return journey about an hour later. 

None of this is bringing in money for authors via "public lending rights" but it is helping people read. I know people who scour these sites before they go on holiday. They then pass the books along to others in caravan parks or leave them in other street libraries or even charity shops. 

And now my good friend H... has told me something else that I might add to one of our local street libraries. I will need to be careful they don't get broken but if I put some unused coffee/tea mugs there perhaps people will use those too? They might. I sorted out some of the excess here. It isn't quite the 82 I helped someone get rid of recently. (They went to a charity shop.) I put them there early this morning.

It's still foggy later this morning but someone might be out walking their dog and stop to look. I'll go and check later.