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Little Free Libraries in Athens, Georgia Considering Access, Literacy, Community Connection

Drive down an Athens residential street or stroll through the Five Points neighborhood and you may notice tiny, house-like structures staked in front yards or along sidewalks. These are Little Free Libraries.

Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization with the mission of inspiring a love of reading, building community and fostering neighborhood book exchanges. The organization also strives to address the issue of "book deserts," areas where access to books is scarce.

Individual Little Free Libraries are established and maintained by "stewards," individuals, businesses or community organizations. Libraries can be registered and added to Little Free Library's official map.

Since its inception as a nonprofit in 2012, Little Free Library has established over 100,000 Little Free Libraries in all 50 states and over 100 countries. Twenty-nine of these are registered in Athens, Georgia.

Little Free Library has received several awards, from the Innovations in Reading Prize in 2013 to the World Literacy Award in 2020.

But with the recognition has come criticism of Little Free Library's actual impact on addressing literacy, access and book deserts.

In 2017, human geographer and librarian Jordan Hale of University of Toronto joined with Jane Schmidt of Ryerson University in Toronto to study Little Free Libraries in Toronto, Canada.

Hale and Schmidt's research questioned how well LFL addresses equity and literacy concerns.

Their study found that most Toronto Little Free Libraries were established in majority white neighborhoods where 25% or more of residents have university degrees.

How do Athens's Little Free Libraries fit into the greater conversation of access to resources?

Justin Bray, program manager of Athens nonprofit Books for Keeps, sees where issues may arise with Athens's Little Free Libraries.

Like Little Free Library, Books for Keeps addresses book access, but Books for Keeps meets people where they are rather than waiting for people to come to them, Bray said. Books for Keeps purchases books for distribution within the Athens-Clarke County public school system.

When Bray began looking into Little Free Library, he noticed the cost of officially registering a library. Stewards can purchase completed structures starting at $279.95, or they can build their own and pay a $39 registration fee.

“It makes sense that they need ways to fund the program, but at the same time is going against exactly that, that issue of access,” Bray said. "It's an issue of access when there's no resource to tell you where they are."

There are 29 registered Little Free Libraries in Athens, but more unregistered libraries exist.

Use the map to compare registered libraries (purple) to unregistered libraries (orange).

Map data compiled with the help of Books for Keeps.

Bray has also considered who is establishing these libraries, where they are established and how that address inequality.

“The people that can afford it and the people that can do it and the people that have the time and energy to to create a Little Free Library and think that it’s cute and fun will do it," Bray said. "Those people are doing it as a luxury rather than a need, and meeting a need."

Areas that would be considered book deserts in Athens, like the East Side neighborhood, have not yet been impacted by Little Free Library programs, Bray said.

This map combines median household income with the location of little library locations in Athens-Clarke County, both registered and non-registered. A darker shade indicates a higher median household income.

Based on the map, areas with median household income under $28,000 have fewer Little Free Libraries. Areas with median household income exceeding $39,000 have a bulk of the Little Free Libraries. What does this say about access to Little Free Libraries as a community resource?

Please note that the white section in the middle of the map represents the University of Georgia campus, meaning that no income data was considered for that area.

Income map obtained from OpenStreetMap.

And then comes the issues of maintaining and stocking the libraries.

“A lot of them are in various states of disrepair… doors are missing or the roof is shot, so the books either get damaged or people just don’t refill them, or there’s not somebody that’s refilling them on a consistent basis,” Bray said.

By keeping maintaining a log of both the registered and non-registered little libraries in Athens, Bray wants to better maintain and stock the little libraries of Athens with the thousands of books donated to Books for Keeps each year.

Books for Keeps plans to insert QR codes into Athens libraries. If a visitor sees that a library needs maintenance or does not have enough books, the visitor can scan the code to alert Books for Keeps, which can send a volunteer to check the library.

Library features

A Quarantine Project

Athens resident Dustin Graham decided to build a Little Free Library in front of his house at 120 Riverdale Drive when the COVID-19 pandemic began. His work in playground design and construction slowed down at the beginning of the pandemic, and Graham wanted to build something.

“I’d seen them around town I guess for years I’d been familiar with the concept and the little free food pantry downtown,” Graham said. “The idea of these little popup donation spots [is] really cool. I kind of wanted to freshen up our street.”

Now, Graham has built two additional libraries for the Junior League, of which his wife is a member. The Junior League will donate them to the Athens Homeless Shelter. One library will be for children’s books.

Investing in the neighborhood

After Michelle Commeyras retired from the University of Georgia’s Department of Reading Education in 2015, she moved to a neighborhood that is typically considered low-income.

“It’s usually called East Athens in general, which is different from the East side of Athens, and this is sort of a neighborhood that’s going through gentrification to some extent,” Commeyras said. “But there’s still a large population of people who are living in poverty. Across the street from my little library is subsidized housing from the Athens Housing Authority.”

Before retiring, Commeyras found meaning in the free reading clinic she oversaw. Families could bring their children to UGA for reading tutoring, and education students had a chance to practice what they learned in the classroom.

“That was probably one of the most satisfying parts of my work as an educator because it was very real,” Commeyras said. “So when I retired from UGA in 2015 … I decided I wanted to put up a little free library for the neighborhood.”

Commeyras installed her library at the corner of East Broad and Dublin Streets. Since then, Commeyras has planted a tree and installed a mosaic roof. The library once held only children's books but now includes books for all ages, Commeyras said.

Sandy Creek Nature Center

Before obtaining her current role as a naturalist at Sandy Creek Nature Center, Michelle Cash worked in a library. Cash wanted to figure out ways to encourage kids to read more, and so she started researching.

“I came across the idea of a Little Free Library, and I realized that a lot of places in Athens are actually doing it,” Cash said.

After talking to her boss, Cash purchased a box from Little Free Library and installed it at Sandy Creek Nature Center, where it has now been for five or six years, Cash said.

More Athens libraries

Libraries at schools
A library at Whit Davis Elementary School at 1450 Whit Davis Road. This library is not registered on the Little Free Library website.
A library at Chase Street Elementary School at 757 N. Chase St. This library is registered on the Little Free Library website.

Other Athens schools with libraries include Fowler Drive Elementary School, Whitehead Road Elementary School and Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School.

Libraries near businesses
A library outside of Fleet Feet at 1694 S. Lumpkin St. This library is not registered on the Little Free Library website.
A library behind The Lark at 493 Prince Ave. This library is not registered on the Little Free Library website.
A library outside of Georgia United Credit Union at 1710 S. Lumpkin St. This library is registered on the Little Free Library website.

Other Athens businesses with libraries include Em's Kitchen, First American Bank, Marti's at Midday, Jittery Joe's (Five Points) and Little Kings Shuffle Club.

Libraries near homes and neighborhoods
A library at 199 University Drive. This library is not registered on the Little Free Library website.
A library at 1160 Boulevard. This library is registered on the Little Free Library website.
A library at 392 Westview Drive. This library is registered on the Little Free Library website.
Clockwise from the top left: A library at 184 Milledge Terrace, a library at 325 Rumson Road, a library at 165 Wilcox St., a library at 395 Pine Needle Road.
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