Neighbors in Mesa are sharing books through little libraries
Nov 6, 2019, 4:35 AM | Updated: Nov 7, 2019, 5:35 am
(KTAR News Photo/Griselda Zetino)
(KTAR News Photo/Griselda Zetino)
PHOENIX — Little libraries are popping up in Mesa, including one in front of Sabrina Dobson’s house.
She and her husband painted it a bright blue. The sides have colorful cacti and a glass door in the front shows the inside is filled with books, including Harry Potter books and several by Dr. Seuss.
“It’s been pretty popular with the kids for sure,” Dobson said. “I definitely have noticed the kids’ books going pretty quickly.”
The city of Mesa has supported 27 of these little libraries. Dobson said the city provided her the wooden structure. She and her husband installed it and painted it.
“People can leave a book or take a book,” she said. “We want it to be a community effort.”
Through its Little Libraries program launched about a year ago, the city of Mesa covers up to $260 in building supplies for those interested in installing one. It’s modeled after the national Little Free Libraries program.
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Lindsey Balinkie, the city’s neighborhood outreach coordinator, said the program was created about a year ago as “a neighborhood-building tool.”
“It helps neighbors connect with each other,” Balinkie said. “It’s kind of an icebreaker. So if someone you might not have ever talked to comes by and grabs a book, then you’re talking and you’re meeting each other.”
The little library owners get to come up with the design.
Balinkie said some design them to look like their own house, with the same roof shingles and paint color. Others have inspirational quotes painted on.
“It’s really fun to see how they all come out differently,” she said. “They start as a wooden box and then get a lot of personality and creativity once they go into people’s yards.”
The owners also get to decide what books go inside the little libraries. They get help filling them up with book donations from Mesa Public Libraries and Bookmans Entertainment Exchange, which sells and trades books.
The city’s Little Libraries program has been so popular that there’s now a waiting list of applications.
But Balinkie said Mesa residents don’t have to wait to create their own little library.
“You can do a library on your own,” she said. “People repurpose old cabinets or different things too.”
The city is also holding a raffle in January for those interested in having a completed little library on their property.
