Witnessing the birth of a vibrant garden in one’s neighborhood is magical. Seeing a work of art pop up out of nowhere is a spectacle to behold. As the gardens and the works of art become plentiful, neighborhoods take on a life of their own. Every neighborhood has a host of committed grassroots do-gooders that have a hand in injecting life into their houses and gardens. The combined efforts go a long way towards establishing safe, creative and vibrant streets.
Over the past few years I’ve noticed more and more micro community lending libraries pop up in the city. From North Buffalo to the West Side, these miniature libraries say a lot about the people who live there.
The Little Free Library pictured here is found on Richmond Avenue. After looking at the library a bit closer, I realized that this particular lending library is part of a much bigger nationwide program, which encourages people to establish the small book borrowing sheds in their gardens, on their lawns, or anywhere else for that matter. Little Free Library sells the book houses, registers the efforts, and promotes the growth of lending and borrowing communities.
Of course there are a number of reading activists who simply go it alone, by building their own book lending depots. No matter how one establishes a micro community library, the important thing is that it gets done. As more and more of these cute libraries are established, the effort will hopefully get people thinking about the importance of reading. Now we just need to get additional community benches built, so that readers have a place to sit and read!