A new “street library” has popped up at the Bodalla Post Office where anyone can borrow a book, no questions asked, and return it when they please.
The driving force behind the library is Bodalla resident Vera Moxey, who built the tiny library from a cupboard she found at the shop at the Brou landfill.
After turning the cupboard on its side, adding some doors with windows and painting a lovely shade of blue and pink, the library was ready to go on the street.
She heard about the street library concept was taking shape around the world and wanted to try it in her own neighbourhood. There is already another tiny library in the Blue Earth Cafe in Bodalla where customers can take and replace books at will.
Only being placed at the library last week, Ms Moxey’s new little library is already working well with books “borrowed” and new ones appearing.
Street libraries are emerging all over the world, from Qatar to Pakistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The street library concept is a grassroots initiative that can be much more than a box of books and a way of raising literacy standards. In many places, they become community hubs – places where unexpected friendships bloom.
The books are free to borrow and can either be returned or exchanged for another book. The Little Library movement started in the United States.
The tiny libraries might appear on front lawns, on beaches, in parks, outside offices or on the side of the road. Wherever they are, the aim is the same: to make books available to everyone, no matter how rich or poor, or where they live.
Stan Gorton
Walkley-nominated journalist based at The Islander on Kangaroo Island with an interest in the local community and the environment.
Walkley-nominated journalist based at The Islander on Kangaroo Island with an interest in the local community and the environment.
