![]() ![]() Sign up for First Book for reduced price children’s books and check out their National Book Bank Distributions for free books donated by their publishing partners. When I see people browsing at our little library, I ask them if they have any books they can contribute.Ħ. I tell the parents at my daughters’ school to bring me books they don’t read anymore. When I visit relatives, I ask them to look through their bookshelves before I get there so I can take any books they don’t want. I’m not ashamed to ask everyone I know for their books. A few weeks ago they gave me a box of great children’s books for our little library.ĥ. Check used bookstores for overflow or discards. My favorite used bookstore gets so many donations that they frequently donate books to organizations that serve high-needs populations. I came prepared with a huge IKEA bag and might have raided the children’s section.Ĥ. Last weekend, we headed down to Baltimore to visit family, and my husband and I took a trip to Baltimore’s The Book Thing, a warehouse filled with free books. (Which, to be honest, is pretty much every day.)ģ. I take a handful for our little library every time I’m in there. My daughters’ school has a shelf in the library for books that have been removed from the collection and are up for grabs. Go to public libraries and school libraries asking for discards. I sent out emails to our building’s resident email list and the Harlem parent list serve making my neighbors aware of the Little Free Library and asking people to bring any children’s books they are not reading anymore.Ģ. ![]() Let everyone in the neighborhood know about your Little Free Library. Six Ways to Keep Your Little Free Library Stockedġ. Here is what I’ve learned over the last four months of being a Little Free Library steward in a high-needs, highly trafficked neighborhood. I realized I needed to do some work to keep the children’s side stocked since I didn’t expect books to be returned quickly, or at all. I understand why there is such a low rate of return my kids will read books dozens of times before putting it aside, only to pick it back up six months later and reread it again. Only about 5% of the children’s books get returned. On the children’s side, books fly off the shelves. The only intervention I need to do on the adult side is recycle the proselytizing leaflets and hefty Microsoft Windows manuals. On the adult side, the library is self-sustaining. Located next to a post office and within one block of three different public schools, books come in and out at a rate of 40-100 per day. Our little library gets a lot of traffic. When those books disappeared by the next day, I realized I needed to be more proactive about keeping the library stocked. My daughters and I filled the little library with our back-up books, officially depleting everything we had collected over the past month to give away. Would I be able to keep up with the demand? How could I start a Little Free Library then not have enough books to keep it filled? I decided to clarify the expectations of the Little Free Library, in case people were new to the concept, so I created a sign and posted it on the sliding door. I’m a compulsive worrier, so in addition to being excited at the little library’s success I added in a healthy dose of worry. ![]()
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