IOWA CITY — Iowa City could see a new addition to its literature-friendly atmosphere, in the form of miniature libraries.
Officials with the Little Free Library Project — which distributes and encourages cabinet-size outdoor libraries where readers can pick up and drop off books — are in discussions with Iowa City UNESCO City of Literature officials to bring the small libraries to Iowa City.
Project co-founder Rick Brooks said that although officials in Marion also are making plans, Iowa City could very well be the first of the project's locations in the state.
"We would love to help launch this," Brooks said. "In a way, this could be the first city in Iowa to join up with the Little Free Library movement."
Iowa City is one of five cities — the others are Edinburgh, Scotland; Melbourne, Australia; Reykjavik, Iceland; and Dublin — that are part of UNESCO's Creative Cities Network in literature. The program's mission is to celebrate and support literature on a local, regional, national, and international level
The Little Free Library Project began in early 2010 with a single free library on the east side of Madison, Wis., and has expanded to libraries in 22 states and six countries, including Germany, Canada and Afghanistan, Brooks said.
He said the program has more than 100 officially registered libraries and 300 to 400 in the world. The group hopes to best industrialist Andrew Carnegie's record of building 2,510 free libraries around the world.
Each library can hold 20 to 30 books and is protected and promoted by a library steward. When someone borrows a book, he or she replaces it with a favorite from his or her collection.
Although Brooks said cooperation with Iowa City's UNESCO City of Literature could bring 20 to 30 little libraries to the area within a year, one Longfellow neighborhood resident plans to have one in place by late May.
Will Thomson, president of the Longfellow Neighborhood Association board, said he stumbled upon the Little Free Library Project on the Internet and thought it was a great idea to incorporate into his neighborhood.
He said members of the Longfellow Neighborhood Association discussed the project at their annual meeting last week and were quite enthusiastic.
Thomson said he is not sure if his project will be incorporated with the Wisconsin-based program, but as a someone who builds museum exhibits, he said he is a perfect fit for the project.
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