Borrow a Book, Share a Book at Montclair’s Little Free Library

A Little Free Library is a small, waterproof structure (imagine a birdhouse, but bigger) that houses books that are for people in the community to share. With a sign saying “Borrow a Book, share a book,” Little Free Libraries encourage neighbors to share their favorite books. The idea originated in Wisconsin, by social entrepreneurs Todd Bol and Rick Brooks, and today there are Little Free Libraries all over the world and thanks to Jon Bonesteel, Montclair is now on that map.

Montclair’s Little Free Library is located on 57 Tuxedo Road in front of Jon’s home. “I can not claim this as my own idea really. Of the many news feeds I watch, one of my favorites is the technology blog Boing Boing. A while back there was a story about the Little Free Library (LFL) and some of the people who had done it in their own towns.  After reading that and spending some time on the main site, I figured it would be a good idea for our town. “

Jon is the President of the Board of the Adult School of Montclair, and sees this as another way for supporting adult education in town. He took this Little Free Library on as a summer project. “I used an old wine crate as the base for it and built it up to resemble our house a bit.  In its current state it’s quite basic, but my oldest daughter has some ideas for decoration. We’ll see.”  This summer project now has its own website, a book catalog with details about each book pulled from Amazon, and a Twitter account.

“We’re pretty active readers in our house so we have a good base to start with, but I would really like to see contributions from local authors and residents, ” says Jon. At the moment, you will find titles for all ages such as, Reason to Believe by Mario Cuomo, Being Digital by Nicholas Negroponte, Cherry: A Memoir by Mary Karr, Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements and Billy Bones: Tales from the Secrets Closet by Christopher Lincoln for kids. Check the catalog daily to see what’s available and follow @MontclairLFL to keep up to date on new additions.

Jon notes that his is the first Little Free Library in Montclair, but his hope is that it will inspire people to build their own to add to the thousands of others.  “I have heard from a few people who are interested in doing their own, and I hope they work out.  I’m happy to talk to others as well if they like.” You can buy one already built and painted, some very elaborately, or you can build your own.

But in the meantime, use Montclair”s Little Free Library.  Jon says, “This library is for you, our neighbors. Feel free to borrow a book for as long as you need or share one you have loved for others to enjoy.”