Our 2020-2021 Literacy Project – Little Free Libraries in Our Neighborhood
Our District 5960, expects that every Rotary club should take up at least one Literacy project every year. This can be local or internationally by working individually or with other groups, and other clubs
In 2021, The Literacy subcommittee consisting of Rotarians: Bill Klumpp, Paul Bartyzal, Colleen Lavin, Joe Ziskovsky and Anoop Mathur in cooperation with Shoreview Librarian, Carol Jackson, have decided to engage all the Rotarians build, install and maintain at least five Little Free Library structures in various locations in our community. Carol Jackson will help select children’s books that are written by authors from around the world. We will purchase these as the initial contribution from the club.
* Little Free Library encourages you to “take a book, leave a book.’ It is an informal way to share books and promote reading by making them available in free-standing structures in various neighborhood locations.
Here is how it came about:
In 2009, Todd Bol (1956-2018) of Hudson, Wisconsin, built a model of a one room schoolhouse. It was a tribute to his mother, who was a teacher and loved to read. He filled it with books and put it on a post in his front yard. His neighbors and friends loved it, so he built several more and gave them away.
By 2010, the name Little Free Library was established and the purpose of these Little Free Library book exchanges became clear: to share good books and bring communities together. The idea has grown by leaps and bounds every year. In 2020 there were more than 100,000 registered Libraries in over 100 countries worldwide.
PLAN
Here is the tentative plan. More information will be sent out as we make progress.
- We have selected a plan. Bill and Paul will build one little library with instructions. Joe will use the instructions to build the little library and suggest any modification or improvements.
- Bill and Paul will update the plan as required and prepare Five easy-to-assemble kits. They will cut the wood, purchase all the hardware along with the instructions for assembly.
- Colleen has been scouting for the Rotary Decals, signage and Rotary colors for painting the libraries.
- We will have sign-up sheets for Rotarians to form at least five to six groups of three or four people (details being worked on). Each group will receive the kits to paint and after completing their painting will pass it to the next group.
- We plan to assemble it all together at the Shoreview Library parking lot (TBD date and time)
This is what we have so far, more information will be shared on subsequent steps for installation and locations and maintenance.
Our tentative date for delivering the kits is in June with plan to assemble as a group in early July for installation in July. Look for emails from me for sign-up sheets, and details on dates and times.
Literacy Committee: Anoop Mathur (Chair), Bill Klumpp, Paul Bartyzal, Colleen Lavin, Joe Ziskovsky