Detroit gets its first Little Free Library

Detroit on Thursday saw the installation of the first of the twenty tiny libraries that are to be put up as part of the Little Free Libraries movement in the Motor City.

Todd Bol, the founder of the Little Free Libraries movement, oversaw the installation of a small, glass-enclosed wooden box filled with donated books next to the North Rosedale Park Community House.

Filled with donated books and installed in public places, the little libraries urge passersby to take one or donate one.

Bol erected the first Little Free Library in front of his own home in Wisconsin nearly five years back in memory of his mother. Now there are as many as twenty thousand little libraries around the globe, from Russia to remote Canadian islands.

Speaking about the initiative, Bol said, "These libraries open that door to the sweet side of us where we really want to get along with our neighbors, and we really want to help each other."

Detroit will get 19 more Little Free Libraries at public places like Murphy Play Lot in Corktown, the Ruth Ellis Drop in center in Highland Park, and Westminster Church in northwest Detroit, as well as residential homes in Boston Edison and Palmer Woods.

Bol pledged to install 20 of the miniature libraries in Detroit after Detroit News staff writer Kim Kozlowski launched a $25,000-fundraising campaign in September to install free libraries to encourage literacy and community engagement.