By Daphne Jackson
The Bitterroot Public Library is going outside the library to reach the Hamilton community in new ways.
As part of its centennial celebration, the library recently started a Little Free Library at the entrance to River Park. Library Director Mark Wetherington said some of the staff suggested the Bitterroot Library could start this project based on awareness of the worldwide organization Little Free Library, a non-profit dedicated to helping communities build these self-contained libraries.
“When we were brainstorming about what outside-the-box things we could do to celebrate our centennial… three staff members, Tamara Stoker Reynoso, Vivian Yang and Jo Frankforter, came up with the idea of doing a Little Free Library for the centennial,” Wetherington said. “We also partnered with the Friends of the Library on that, they provided the books, and then Jo’s husband Ernie Frankforter helped build it.”
The Little Free Library organization has expanded quickly since its inception in 2009, and lists more than 50,000 registered locations worldwide, as of this year.
Wetherington said the library’s staff chose River Park because it is a popular place in Hamilton, and provides a way for the library to interact with the public in an informal setting without the official rules that go along with an actual library.
“It’s a way of having the library go out into the community, and be there without people necessarily having to come to us. It was a way to go to where the people are,” he said. “Open it up, grab a book and read it while you’re in the park. If you really like it, take it home and bring it back next week when you come by, or bring another book. We’re hoping it’s something that people enjoy, that maybe inspires people to come into the library, if they haven’t been here in a while.”
Wetherington said the River Park Little Free Library is modeled on the Bitterroot Public Library’s original building as it looked when it was first completed in 1916.
Although the library’s staff is currently monitoring the state of the Little Free Library, he said the staff hopes the community eventually adopts it, and considers it a useful thing.
“Ultimately the idea of a lot of Little Free Libraries is that they become self-sustaining, to where people are taking books and bringing back books of their own,” Wetherington said. “It’ll take a little bit of time, but hopefully it’ll be a self-sustaining operation where people will keep it alive on their own. We’re just hoping to inspire people and reach out, and hopefully plant a seed that grows from there, and just gets people thinking.”