One local Girls Scouts Troop is making efforts to make reading accessible to all through a Little Free Library in their Gluckstadt neighborhood.
Troop 4367 hosted a grand opening and ribbon cutting of their Little Free Library at Bradshaw Ridge Clubhouse at the beginning of June. Troop Leader Michelle Hamil said her troop chose the location due to its proximity to the neighborhood swimming pool.
“We wanted to give access to people who may not be able to get out with their kids and go to the library to have access to books,” Hamil said. “We just want to make it accessible for whoever wants it.”
The girl scouts told Hamil about their idea for a Little Free Library last year but, due to covid, had to wait until this year to take action. Many of them first saw the libraries in Strawberry Park in Madison when their parents sent them to the park for fresh air during covid.
“That was really interesting to them, and they wanted to know how they could do a Little Free Library for girl scouts,” Hamil said. “That is where the idea was born.”
The premise of a Little Free Library is that it is free to all and one can take a book but they can also leave a book. However, Hamil said it is not strictly a “take and give situation.”
“We are going to hand out some of the bookmarks that the Little Free Library hands out,” Hamil said. “They say, ‘Take books. If you see something you like to read, take it. When you’re finished, share it with a friend, bring it back here, or leave it at another Little Free Library. Give books. It is up to everyone to keep this library full of good reads. Bring books to share when you can and continue being a friend of Little Free Libraries everywhere.’”
At the beginning of cookie season, the troop researched how much it would cost to order a premade kit to build a library from the Little Free Library website. They learned it was about $300.
“We budgeted our cookie money to see how much camp costs, how much our Little Free Library project would be, and then how much it would be leftover for books if we needed to buy them,” Hamil said. “They earned their money management badges in cookie sales and part of that was doing their budget for their community projects for the year.”
Hamil said they had a neighbor drop off about 70 books to get them started on their Little Free Library and were expecting other donations that would bring the collection to about 100 titles.
“We will just rotate them out as people come, and when they take some, we will put more in,” Hamil said.
The collection consists of both adult and children’s books for all to enjoy. Hamil said her house is acting as the donation center for the books, and if anyone would like to donate, they can contact her at troop4367@gmail.com.
“We will go through the books and put them out in the library as needed,” Hamil said.
This may be just the beginning for Troop 4367’s Little Free Libraries.
“This was our first year doing little free libraries but, if that goes well, we hope to install more maybe next year,” Hamil said.
