Chris Aldrich

Steward of Little Free Library Charter #8424. Loves non-fiction, fiction, classics, and a good thriller. Favorite authors include: Simon Winchester, Robert Caro, and Jared Diamond

A Library Smaller Than Most Photocopiers

Little Free Library #8424 with a view of Glendale

The First Call

Yesterday, our little free library had it’s first incoming phone call! (Our Google page has us on the map with operating hours and a phone number.) The female caller wanted to make sure we were open on the weekend before she stopped by.

The Second Call

A few minutes later we got another call asking for the library. It was a man who said he was on our street, but couldn’t see the library. Knowing that it’s rather small and not necessarily easy to see coming around the corner in a car, I stepped outside and both verbally and visually (I could see his car) directed him to where it was. As he pulled up, with the woman who turned out to be the first caller, she asked:

Do you have a photocopier?

I did my best not to laugh out loud and explained that we’re just a humble, free neighborhood library and our entire library is smaller than the average photocopier!

We chatted for a moment and I directed her to a few nearby libraries and some local business services that offer photocopying. I’m still chuckling about the experience today…

Celebrating Over 400 Books!

Thank You!

Thanks to the help and support of our extended community, we’re proud to announce that Little Free Library #8424 in Adams Hill has now had over 400 books donated to our neighborhood project!

When we started, I expected maybe 200 books in the first year, but with a month to go, we’ve done nearly double that. Nearly 20 donors have accounted for almost half of our volume, and to them we extend a huge thank you. But still the majority of donations come from every day users who simply “leave a book and take a book.” On behalf of all the users who’ve stopped by over the last year and given me their personal thanks or written in our Guest Book, I feel I must pass it back along to ALL of our users who really do the lion’s share of the work.

Keep in mind that this number is simply number of donations and doesn’t take into account overall circulation numbers of books coming back into the library, which, technically, because of the way we work are re-donations.

Any guesses on what the number will be when we hit our one year anniversary on July 28?

Long Holiday Weekend

We’ve still got about 50 books in the library currently so be sure to stop by and pick up something to read for the long weekend.

Guest Book: Sophia Gives a Hand

Over the weekend we found a great little note in our guest book! Thanks for stopping by and making a donation Sophia! We should have some new books in the library for your summer reading habit very soon…

LFL Log Hand

 

The youngest minds go on the greatest adventures.

–Sophia Ospina, booklover, age: 12, Grade: 7

A Whole New Selection

Things were getting stagnant in the late Spring, so with the official start of Summer we’ve broken out about 30 new books for your reading pleasure. Thanks again to all our regular patrons, and particularly our donors for allowing us to regularly offer new material!

Stop by and see what’s new at the Adams Hill Little Free Library!

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50 New Books!

Things had been feeling stagnant recently, and we had a nice stack of donations recently, so this evening we’ve swept out the old and brought in the new!

There are now more than 50 new books in the library! Stop by and check out the new offerings. We’ve got a little bit of everything from almost all genres.

Special thanks to our generous patrons including:

  • Donovan & Family
  • Pat
  • Jeffrey
  • Chris
  • and 5 other anonymous donors

who’ve donated over 50 books in the past month and change. We’ve updated the “leader board” to reflect the donations.

No sooner had they gone in, but a few passersby have already managed to pick up some good reading for the night. Some were surprised to learn that there’s a bottom shelf “hidden” behind our Little Free Library sign on the front with even more books.

As always, happy reading!

LFL Top Shelf Front

LFL Top Shelf rear

LFL Bottom Shelf

Today’s Books: April 20, 2016

We’ve recently had several books come back into stock that have been out for a while, so if you haven’t checked out our bookshelves for a while, now is a good time to see what we’ve got.

We’ve also been stockpiling donations for a few weeks and are about to remove everything currently in the library and replace it with all new stock! So here’s the last(?) call for the great stuff we’ve currently got…

If you’ve got something you’d like to donate for the upcoming restock, please feel free to leave it inside the library this week.

Administrative Note

In conversing with passerby recently, we’ve realized that some people don’t realize that there is a top and a bottom to our library! Yes, indeed, there’s an obvious glass door on the top that opens down, but there’s also a door below it (with the white Little Free Library sign on it) that opens up to the left. Typically we keep some current magazines, children’s books, and young adult selections as well as some additional adult pulp fiction in that section.

Top

LFL Top 4-20-16

Bottom

LFL Bottom 4-20-16

 

Hooray for West Hollywood: City Offers $600 Grants to Little Free Library Stewards

Hey Glendale, why don’t we try this?! Hooray for Hollywood

Have you ever dreamed of getting paid to start a Little Free Library? If you live in West Hollywood, California, you’re in luck.

There, the city is offering eight $600 grants to build and maintain Little Free Libraries.

It’s a great deal: To receive one of the grants, residents of West Hollywood apply through the city’s website, pledging to install, register, and maintain a Little Free Library on private property for at least one year. The Libraries can be purchased or built by the steward.

Harry Potter Week Has Started!

There are wonderful hardbound copies of all 7 titles in the Harry Potter Series now available in the library.

Today’s Books: January 9, 2016

We’ve updated the list more than 56 free books that are on our bookshelf right now.

We’ve also passed more than 250 books through our library since we opened and are well on our way to 300. Thanks to everyone in the Adams Hill neighborhood and beyond for your help!

Is there anything (author, title, genre) you’d like to see us try to acquire or which you wish the community might contribute? Let us all know in the comments.

Todays books 1-9-16 underneath

New Year’s Resolution: Donate a Book a day for a Month

Happy New Year Everyone!

While thinking about what kind of new year’s resolutions to make for myself personally, it occurred to me: why not make a resolution for our local Little Free Library?

So in the spirit of giving for the holiday season, I resolve to put at least one book a day into Little Free Library #8424 for every day of the month of January. I hope this adds some new variety to what the neighborhood is reading.

After this, perhaps I’ll do a little bit of work on the Library’s wishlist.