Today may be the first day we’ve had no activity in the library since we opened. We hope everyone is staying cool in the high heat.
Drink plenty of fluids. The shade should envelope the library in about 30 minutes, and we’ll be open all night for your reading pleasure.
Just after lunch we got two nice new finds: one older and one newer. Come and get ’em while they’re hot!
A couple of people have mentioned they enjoy non-fiction, and for them we have a few new donations this afternoon:
Arlene Vidor kindly posted a glorious photo of our library in the Gallery section of the Adams Hill Neighborhood Association website.
Sun shining down on the Adams Hill “Branch” of the Little Free Library
There are also a lot of other new photos there from the recent National Night Out as well as a few other recent neighborhood events.
For notices and other goings on nearby, we also recommend joining the website Nextdoor.com which has an active Adams Hill (and surrounding neighborhoods) section.
Adams Hill Neighborhood Association in Social Media:
Emma Donoghue’s Room was donated to the library overnight.
There have been lot of books moving in and out over the past few days. Thanks everyone for all the kind words in our Guest Book!
Browse our currently shelved titles via our GoodReads.com Bookshelf.
Today’s books: August 12, 2015
[Editor’s note: This article was also published at BoffoSocko.com]
First a major note of thanks to everyone who helped to make the launch of Little Free Library Branch #8424 a lovely success. Everyone’s support and encouragement is truly appreciated.
When I was setting up, I naturally brought a book to read, but I did it mostly thinking that only two people might actually stop by. (Hey, I’ll be the first to admit that this is a pretty nerdy and a very local pursuit. It’s easy to click “like” on a post; it’s a whole other thing to visit a small neighborhood library even one with free oatmeal cookies.) Fortunately and very pleasantly, there was a steady stream of people from start to finish, so much so that, as the host, I didn’t get to chat with the visitors as much as I would have liked. Apologies to those I couldn’t chat with more, and even moreso to those who heard answers to the same questions multiple times.
In the end, we had over 20 people and a few pets stop by our little event.
Under the heading of “Only in LA” I’ll mention that, the highlight of our grand opening was what I can only describe as a double “drive-by booking.” Fortunately no one was hurt.
About 20 minutes into the event a car drove up with two bibliophiles. They each had a book to donate, but apparently didn’t have the time to park and actually stop for a glass of tea or any cookies. So they simply dropped off their books anonymously and then drove immediately off into the sunset. A few minutes later, another car drove up and did the same thing: they donated a book, said hello, and then proceeded on their way without joining the party! Maybe they had an important book signing or a library event to rush off to? Maybe the library police were chasing them for late fines? The mafia probably would have called foul as they didn’t technically put a foot on the curb or call us out, but hopefully this is as dangerous as things get in the Little Free Library world. One of the donated books had its South Pasadena Library serial number filed off, possibly to keep it from being traced, but authorities are working diligently on the case.
As if the double drive-by wasn’t odd enough, we also had a minivan drove by with a brief stop to ask what was going on. The driver mentioned that the car of several people happened to include two librarians, so apparently we’ll have to keep our eyes peeled for possible additional drive-by bookings.
Special thanks go to Adam and Darren who dropped off 3 lovely books. And to Delilah from down the street who was responsible for our first children’s book donation. And we can’t forget the massive donation of 8 books of literary fiction from Jeffrey Stewart making the largest, single one time donation. Several other neighbors dropped books off, and many browsed and found something interesting to take with them. I have to admit that I’m glad that I live in a neighborhood with such great taste in books.
The award for the longest distance donation goes to Samantha Marks who donated a signed copy of her new book A Fatal Family Secret which she shipped from Ellicott City, Maryland just in time for the Grand Opening. It counts as the newest book in our collection as it was just published in May. Since it was checked out almost as soon as it entered the collection, it also rates as our quickest check out; those in a rush may want to pick up a copy at Amazon or other fine booksellers.
In all we had a total of 26 donations for our Grand Opening, bringing our grand total to 49, so far.
As a special mention, the award for the furthest distance traveled to make our grand opening goes to Jocelyn, who came from London on her way to Oklahoma!
Again, a big “Thank You!” to everyone who helped to make our Grand Opening such a lovely success! We look forward to seeing everyone come back soon!
For those who weren’t able to stop by, we’re now open 24/7 365 days a year. You can visit our branch online at its own website or by means of your favorite social media platform:
The oatmeal cookies and iced tea we served at the opening.
Yesterday evening at dusk, we got our first infusion of children’s books to our library:
I’ll note somewhat guiltily, that I read the Junie B. Jones and laughed out loud several times. For adults walking by, it’s a quick and entertaining read! The others are short enough to read while walking by with your favorite toddler (it’s hot out and you might need a break while sweating your way up the hill), but feel free to take them home for bedtime stories.
As a reminder, we’ll note that we usually shelve the children’s books on the lower shelf to make it easier for short arms and legs to reach. The donors of two of the books didn’t need to know this as I think they could only reach the bottom shelf — thanks for stopping by and sharing your books with us!
Our custom book plates arrived today!
Now it’s much easier to register books on Book Crossing and give them their own unique BCID’s. We’ve added them to the 12 books currently in our collection as well as the many books we’re getting ready for our Grand Opening this coming Sunday.
Patrons can enter the BCID numbers from the bookplates to see where the book has been before them. They can also enter in their ratings, reviews, and comments before re-releasing them back to our library or passing them along to other Little Free Libraries or friends.
Little Free Library #8424 Bookplate
Our very first outside donation, has “boomeranged” back to us. While we don’t always necessarily expect our books to come back to our branch, it’s great to know that they’re being read and appreciated instead of sitting on our shelves just looking pretty. The accompanying note in our guest book on the return was:
“Thank you so much for the great books. They are really appreciated.”
We’d also like to note that one of our neighbors up the hill donated a handful of magazines including Time, Sports Illustrated, and Rolling Stone among many others. While we would typically discourage the donation of magazines, these are all popular issues that are current within the last few weeks.
Our current offerings have been updated on our Good Reads bookshelf.
Courtesy of two new donors we’ve just gotten the following in stock:
