You're out enjoying your neighborhood and you come across a community library box offering books that you can take and read, for free. These neighborhood free libraries are such a wonderful addition to many neighborhoods, some whose residents experience learning poverty and a lack of access to reading materials. The humanity and kindness displayed by the stewards of these free libraries are touching. I just love the generosity displayed by stewards, and contributors, of these little libraries.
The concept is simple: take a book, leave a book. You are not expected to return the exact same book you borrowed. There is no time limit for keeping, or returning the book. You can add your own books to your favorite neighborhood library, but you are not required to do so. It's all about sharing: and everything we need to know about sharing we learned in kindergarten, right?
However, one ugly aspect of maintaining a neighborhood library is very often talked about in forums and groups of stewards: people who steal from the libraries with the intention of selling the books. Technically, since the books are being offered with no written agreement of the end use, some folks don't consider taking the books theft. But wiping out an entire library, and then selling those books for profit is certainly against every intention and expectation of the concept of any library.
Some stewards have taken the extra step of marking their books with stamps or markers, indicating that the books are from a free library and are intended to remain free. I appreciate this idea, although I'm not sure it's a practical deterrent to theft of books. However, marking books with an origin stamp, and perhaps the registration number (if the library is registered with Little Free Library (TM) ) is a fun idea, at least for tracking books. It sounds fun to pick a book in Minnesota, that started it's journey in California.
You can rest assured that NONE of the books I sell were taken from a neighborhood library. I have either purchased them from a thrift store, a retail book store (all too often the case!) or have been gifted books by friends and family. I also offer many books here on Fresh Look Books at rock bottom prices, especially for adding to your free library (although, really, you can do anything you like with them!). I try to make good selections that will be of interest to a wide range of readers, especially children. I hope you find something you like!