What does a book lover do when there is no library nearby? Make one of course.
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Rhana Griffin from Sisters Beach is a self-confessed bibliophile, and in 2014 she discovered an international movement; free little libraries.
Originating in the United States the idea is to build a small ‘library’, fill it with books and place it in the community. People can take a book and leave a book, and the result is a constantly evolving and refreshing library of free books.
“I’ve always been a big reader myself and I enjoy giving back to the community,” Mrs Griffin said.
“We moved over here from Western Australia about 10 years ago and the Sisters Beach community has been just amazing, they've adopted us as one of their own, so I thought that building a library here in Sisters Beach for the community to share and to access was really nice.”
The community response to the free little library has “fantastic” and Mrs Griffin has been surprised to see children take wholeheartedly to the idea.
We live in a digital age so it does my heart good to see the little ones getting excited over actual real books.
- Rhana Griffin
“We live in a digital age so it does my heart good to see the little ones getting excited over actual real books,” she said.
“The community has really embraced it my husband and I are the stewards of the library, we take care of it, but it really belongs to the whole community and I think they take pride in it too.
“I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who tidies up in there, I might go out in the morning I’ll look at the library and go, ‘Oh that’s a bit of a mess today I’ll clea that up when I get home’, and when I get home the library fairies have been.”
The library has a diverse range of titles and Mrs Griffin said she would be surprised if people couldn’t find something they liked.
Mrs Griffin would encourage anyone to create a free little library in their community, and said the website has a lot of resources to get going.
“I would say just go for it, because it really is rewarding,” she said.
The community has embraced the library so much Mrs Griffin said people often want to donate books.
“Unfortunately it’s not often that we can accept donations because we have limited storage space ourselves, we will occasionally take in kids books if we find ourselves running low,” she said, otherwise they have to take them to charity shops.
- littlefreelibrary.org