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My 8th Little Free Library

Written by terrya
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It was great to see a photo in the Camrose Booster (OK, it is small town rag, but Camrose is a great ‘small town”) with photos of my very long time friend Roberts Rogers and his wife Laurie Szott-Rogers. 

Robert was a ‘comrade at arms’ when we communally homesteaded a quarter section in Northern Alberta in 1973 and later started the North Country Fair (now in it’s 48th year).  I have also been honoured by Robert to be his best man at both of his weddings so the least I could do was build him a Little Free Library for his new home in Camrose.

Their new home is beside Mirror Lake in Camrose. I wanted to have the name of the Library reflect the Lake theme by crafting the name from letters and an image of the Lake cut from actual mirror. Sadly, my expertise and experience at cutting glass and mirror convinced me that making letters from real mirror glass was way beyond me. However, I found that one can purchase mirror vinyl in rolls (cheap – less than $10). So I enrolled in an online class from Edmonton Public Library on how to use their vinyl cutting machines in their MakerSpace. After one failed test,  and terrific help from Library staff, I cut out the letters “Mirror Lake Free Library” complete with an image of Mirror Lake (taken from Google maps).

Robert is a prolific author – more than 40 books on herbs, mushrooms, ferns, mosses and other topics. You can see (and purchase) 18 of these texts on Amazon. The newspaper photo shows him holding one of his own books. Laurie also has authored more than the book she is holding (see list of 10 of her titles here ).

However, they suggest you purchase these on Amazon, rather than wait for one to appear in their Free Library.    

Little Free Library

A Poem for Little Free Library Stewards and stories and picts. from Little Free Libraries 1-4

Written by terrya

In this post  I capture a few mages and a few tales about Little Free Libraries (LFL) – inspired by the installation of my 4th LFL yesterday.

As you may recall from previous posts in this blog, I’ve taken an interest in building and stewarding these free libraries. Likely you have seen one or more in your neighbourhood, and hopefully you have made a few withdrawals and deposits. 

LFLs are great communities builders. I’ve had a many a pleasant chat with those stopping by and it is fun just to watch visitors check the collection and try to decide if they should take a book or two. Gratifying is as well, when a car pulls up and out comes a box of books.  Our home LFL has only seen an empty shelf (of 3 shelves) or one occasion – more often there are books fitted in horizontally on top of other books as the shelves are full.  I occasionally cull books, but not often.

Yesterday, I was surprised with a delightful poem left by an anonymous reader.

I love the “For Freedom” at the end and of course, the pseudonym of “the book READistributor” is priceless.

LFL#1 Celebrates it 1st Birthday in 2017.

 

This ‘home’ library (LFL#1) was built from wood salvaged from the origional house on this property – but had to wait 20 years until I had time and energy to build it!

The second one I built for the  Westwood Unitarian Congregation  that we attend.  It is a bit smaller, but features a roof shaped like an open book, sheltering the library.  The book book needed a title and author and given that Westwood’s motto is to “Rest, Grow and Serve the World”.  The book title is Rest, Grow and Serve: An Adventure by U. R. Westwood.  Pretty cute eh!

LFL#2 at Westwood Unitarian

LFL#3 (below) was an upper kitchen cabinet. It was sided with oak flooring that Susan had made me drag home 12 years ago. I thought it looked better with the door upside down.

It has needed a repair. I had not fastened the roof permanently, as the owner might want a bird attic suite. I would be good to better to be able to lift off the roof and clean between tenants. But who wants the roof to come off – as it threatens in the photo below.

Little Free Library #3

LFL#4 was a gift to my friends Marj and Dennis Foth. Dennis was the Dean at University of Alberta- my first academic job. Marj started 20 years ago the Unprepareds Music Group. We gather once a month and each do a piano, cello, vocal or hammered dulcimer song or two. They are also major supporters of our Westwood Unitarian Congregation, so #4 got a carved sign and launched as Biblio Foth Free Library.

I covered the exterior of  LFL#4 with lap siding that I cut from a pile of 2X4 cutoffs left from the garage wall project.  I couldn’t find a kitchen cupboard with a matching  glass door, so I bought a door and added small strips on the side of the opening to make it fit.

Marj Foth and myself installing Biblio Foth

None of these Little Free Libraries are perfect they all seem ‘good enough’ – like most of my carpentry!

By coincidence, the order for LFL#5 came in last week- and it’s taking shaping in the shop.

Little Free Library

1st Birthday – Riverdale’s Little Free Library

Written by terrya
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IMG_4262My Little Free Library celebrated its birthday with a party for its patrons on Saturday. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t terrific, but the rain held off long enough for cake, music and wine!

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The only challenge is that the party goers each bought books and the Library is already FULL!  I had to open Riverdale Little Free Library Annex #1 – a cardboard box (see photo above). I am confident though that we will be getting a run on reading as the proverbial winter chill sets into Alberta.

I built a new reading bench and carved “Libellus Libertas” which I think and hope is Latin for Books Free – as in ‘take a free book’ or ‘books are freedom’

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Reflecting on the 1st year I can make a few observations:

  1. Physical maintenance on the building has been minimal. I spruced up the exterior (for the party) with a quick coat of varnish, I had left over from another project. I’ve had to replace one of the door knobs and that’s about it.
  2.  The upstairs, library studio flat had no bird tenants although it was guarded by a fat sparrow for a week or so this spring.
  3. The Head Librarian has become a promiscuous reader, as he has started way more books than he finishes and is currently reading 6 books.
  4. The collection size has remained quite steady (current glut not withstanding). I’ve culled about 20 books that weren’t moving, but most seem to disappear in about 2-4 weeks.
  5. I’ve met many more neighbours and been thanked for the library by many.

So all in all a great 1st year. This winter, I plan to build at least one more library.

Little Free Library, Personal

Front Lawn Fun-Raiser concert

Written by terrya

Susan and I were really pleased to host a fine evening of music last evening here in Riverdale. Our neighbour Cam Neufeld is touring this summer with IMG_3983Jez Hellard & The Djukella Orchestra (Jez and bassist Nye Parsons). Jez and Nye are from the UK and royally entertained us with  a rich collection of origional and traditional  tunes.IMG_3998

 

 

 

 

The concert was a fund-raiser in support of the two Syrian families that have been sponsored here in Riverdale. So always good to be able to support a good cause, while having a great time and listening to some fine music. As you can see the Little Library did double duty as a welcome sign.IMG_3994

 

Little Free Library, Personal

Little Free Librarian Inspects Little Free Library

Written by terrya

I had some fun with the little clay model that I posed for in the market in Tianjin, China.  The artist used multi-coloured modelling clay with amazing skill to create caricatures for his customers.

Since then my statue has been guarding the house from the fireplace mantel, but last week, he got bored, and wanted to check out the Little Free Library.

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Browsing the stacks

While he was growing the stacks, I took these pictures.

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Little Librarian (in bottom left)

 

 

Little Free Library

First Week at Riverdale Little Free Library

Written by terrya
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The Little Free Library has survived its first week- no vandalism, lots of borrowers and depositors, collection growing and 12 new DVDs videos (thanks to Rocky and Eric). The back birdhouse suite is still vacant (I hope I won’t have to remove the No Magpies Need Apply sign) and the building survived its first rain. The children’s collection is a bit sparse but, all in all,  a great week – Thanks to all the patrons.

Two problems to overcome:Little Free Library Sign

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Little Free Library, Personal

Little Free Library Opens in Riverdale (Edmonton)

Written by terrya
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This weekend I opened the Little Free Library I have been building for the past few weeks.  It is a great hit and already I’ve had a couple of nice volumes appear (librarian gets 1st pick!).

I managed to use scraps and pieces from the old house we demolished 20 years on this site to construct the library. The only purchased parts are the door hinges.  I also paid the $40  to officially register with the Little Free Library organization – thus the “official sign” and steward number on the picture.

One problem with building a free library is that I already have requests for 2 more (one for our Unitarian Church). But I did learn a few things during construction.

Here is the “spiel” I posted on the door

Welcome to Rivderdale’s first Little Free Library. This is one of over 30,000 Little Free Libraries located around the world.

The Steward of this library is Terry Anderson (terrya@athabascau.ca). The Library was constructed entirely of re-cycled materials, many of which came from the original house on this site.

You are welcome to deposit or withdraw a book or two. Borrowed books may be lent to a friend or returned to any Free Library in the world.

This library also accepts videos, CDs and DVDs. If you wish, you may leave a note in your deposit with recommendations, instructions or any advice you wish to offer to its next reader.

And a couple of pics

Terry installing libraryLibrary2

 

 

Little Free Library, Personal