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Sunset Parker's
Sidewalk Free Lending Library
In 2015, we decided on the Sunset Parker site, to organize "Stoop Reading Clubs". An adult or an older teen could pick up as many books as they needed for their club from us and return them when they were finished with them. They could then pick up a fresh collection of books.
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We told the club leaders that if anyone felt an attachment to one of the books, they could keep it.
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The number of books that we received as donations was overwhelming, and their storage was too much for my home. The Sunset Park 5th Ave BID was willing to set up a mini-library at their 5th Ave office to house the books and also act as the pick-up location.
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In the Spring of 2015 I was approached by a retired teacher who asked if he could set up a library in the 1855 one-room school house that Renee and I were restoring in Pennsylvania. When he heard that the school would not be ready for at least a year, he set up his library in the town's Community Center instead.
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But he planted the idea in my head of hosting a library. I recalled seeing a small sidewalk lending library once and decided to do some research. I found that there were hundreds across the country. After more consideration, I realized that such a library would serve a much greater need in Sunset Park. So I drew up plans to build one and then went to work on it.
I used a table saw to cut 3/4" plywood into pieces to make a box - three identical paired panels - top & bottom, both sides (left & right) and front & back. I then took the front piece and cut a piece out of the interior that would become the door.
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When gluing, I was careful to apply glue to both pieces before attaching them to each other. I also used screws instead of nails for added strength.
The peaked roof is for decoration and also to deflect rain & snow. The flat roof under it is sealed to prevent leaking in on the books. That top panel sits on top of the four sides. I used off-set cabinet hinges.
I used an old handle for opening the door. I chose to have the door open upwards so that it would close itself if the user forgot.
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Of course I began by painting the inside first. I applied about 5 coats and allowed a day of drying between coats.
I selected a bold red and blue to attract attention.
Fortunately, folks were very charitable and books kept being dropped off, sometimes twenty or thirty at a time.
Folks were so nice helping with the translations so that we could reach Chinese, Spanish and Arabic readers in addition to English.
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For a couple of months, our Chinese translation was "off" and thankfully Salina Wang quickly corrected it for us.
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Below are four examples of other libraries that inspired me.
We owe so much thanks to Noel & Ana Negron, Raymond & Brett Correa, Gina Devonish-Morales, Crystal Rosario, Isabel Santos, Janely Loza, Jennifer Canavan, Jessica Johnson, Jess Giordano, Margaret Ann, Olivia, the folks at Stop n Swap, Marie Davis, Ron Cour, Sandra Echevarria, Ramona Piccini, Marvin, Max & Veronica
De Jesus, and Sheila K Hoban-Pisciotta for their gracious donations of books. Many more books were donated anonymously.
(Please if I left your name out, message me.)
The Sidewalk Free Lending Library has been very well received and at any moment we have at least 300 books out in Sunset Park homes.
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People have been effuse with their thanks and one person even scribbled "thank you" on the wood support holding up the library.
Recently, I noticed that many people seemed to "study" the signage for the longest time and then walk away. I was worried that they may not know that they can borrow the books freely, so today I added the word FREE in four languages on each side.
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