The founder of the Little Free Library died. It’s so sad. And he was quite young, too.
We have three little free libraries in the close vicinity, and we use them all the time to take and leave books.
I remember how recently the little free libraries were bashed by the progressive crowd for perpetuating oppression and privilege. It’s as if these folks were trying to get everybody to hate them because it’s very hard not to hate people who oppose a free, neighborly exchange of books.
Oh, no!
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I have not seen Little Free Libraries in Israel, but in some places in Tel Aviv there are stands with books (in a small city park) to take for reading. However, I think they are supposed to be returned before a reader leaves the park. Will check.
One would think that book exchanges do the opposite from “perpetuating oppression and privilege.” I suppose the critics’ idea is that only rich neighborhoods will have them, but even were it true (which I doubt), books are not oppressing anyone.
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So sad!
There are a few around where I am, but they’re all in the city. Apparently they were used as part of a literacy project for some of the poorer neighborhoods, where some of them were set up.
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I think “book swap shelves” are a great idea and I fully support them (I started one here in the apartment building where I live, there was one in the supermarket staff canteen where I used to work and in a small local railway station) but they’re not “libraries” – and as libraries are continuously facing cuts in funding and possible closures, I don’t feel there should be any confusion between the two.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
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