New Contender for Coolest Little Free Library

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by Prince Of Petworth April 26, 2016 at 10:02 pm 10 Comments

Mount Pleasant.

jaybird

Reminds me. Time to re-read Ham on Rye.
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I want to put one of these in my yard but my husband worries that all the books will just get stolen and someone will poop in it. Ah, Petworth.
- Ryan
  
  We’ve had all of the books stolen about three times in as many years. But no other vandalism. The thefts seem to have stopped now that we stamp every book with a LFL marker so that local used book sellers won’t buy them. Oh, and also we can’t use bookends in it because those consistently get stolen, even if “Do Not Take Me” is scrawled prominently on them.
  - Count Pheasant
    
    I thought LFLs followed the “take a book, leave a book” model — is the expectation that people will actually return books once they finish with them? Also I’ve actually stuck books in some of these that I no longer wanted … did I commit a LFL faux pas?
    - Count Pheasant
      
      I’ll add — I think when you mention theft you mean someone comes through and takes ALL the books, but the idea of stamping books so used book sellers won’t take them threw me off — that makes it sound like there is an expectation that the books should be returned to the LFL?
      
      I just read the LFL website FAQ though and it doesn’t sound like I’m committed any anti-neighborly faux pas..whew!
      - Ryan
        
        Yea, exactly, no faux pas! We had someone come through several times, hop out of a car and scoop up ALL of the books (easily 60+ when it’s full). Then the used bookseller near us emailed to let us know that the person tried to come in and sell them. So now we stamp all the ones that pass through our library (with something like this: https://img0.etsystatic.com/044/1/7203332/il_340x270.631337278_1z9c.jpg). Since then the thefts have stopped ::knock on wood::
        
        It has been interesting though, because people have told us about seeing our stamped books proliferate throughout the other LFLs in the neighborhood. It’s neat to hear/see how far they spread and how many times they turn over.
    - textdoc
      
      My impression was that it was “take a book and leave one in its place, and/or return the book you borrowed.”
    - Caroline
      
      I think ideally there should be a balance of books coming and books going. If someone sees five books in there that they want to read, they should take them all! I don’t think there’s any obligation to return them but it’s a good policy if you don’t have any intention of using them after they’re done.
      On the other hand, there are people like me that add a lot more books than I’ve taken. I usually wait until I see a LFL that’s almost empty, and I make sure to only leave books that the general public would actually want to read.
      - Ryan
        
        Before we put one up we read this series of posts by one DC little library owner on how hers became popular and self-sustaining. http://bookriot.com/2015/03/09/little-free-library-became-self-sustaining/
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