{"id":6927,"date":"2022-05-20T17:17:42","date_gmt":"2022-05-20T17:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=6927"},"modified":"2023-05-26T22:24:00","modified_gmt":"2023-05-26T22:24:00","slug":"the-characters-behind-durhams-tiny-libraries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2022\/05\/20\/the-characters-behind-durhams-tiny-libraries\/","title":{"rendered":"The characters behind Durham\u2019s tiny libraries"},"content":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s a mini-fridge in a front yard on Shepherd Street. At first glance, it looks like the Whirlpool has lost its life to the vicious cycle of college move-in and move-out. In its heyday, it would have been home to half-eaten Taco Bell orders and 12-packs of Bud Light, but it is now filled with books new and old (that the Bud Light drinkers probably didn\u2019t read). The mini-fridge in Morehead Hill is one of Durham\u2019s many tiny libraries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On this day it contains a random assortment of what Durham is reading (or \u2026 not reading): <\/span>A History of Japan to 1334, Fluffy Bunnies<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>The Maddie Diaries: A Memoir<\/span><\/i>. Like all the tiny libraries, the books in the fridge are free for the taking so long as the borrower replaces the book they take with one of their own.<\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s no official count, but a map kept by Kat Barbosa, an enterprising tracker of the little library movement, indicates more than 150 in Durham. Some are part of a national nonprofit called Little Free Library that sells, standardizes, and tracks the outposts for literary freecycling. Others are unaffiliated \u2014 and even include the occasional mini-fridge. Together they provide Durhamites with all the James Patterson novels (there seems to be one in every box) they could (n)ever read.<\/span><\/p>\n Typically, the tiny libraries aren\u2019t former beer chillers. Usually they are wooden boxes, about half the size of a mini-fridge, mounted on posts and planted where passersby might notice them. Some are utilitarian, resembling birdhouses. Others are more ornate \u2014 carved into the side of a tree or built out of a repurposed newspaper box.<\/span><\/p>\n In the age of e-this and upload-that, with the contents of infinite libraries available to readers at the click of a button, the thought of even heading to the local public library seems to be a dream of days gone by. Little libraries, with an even littler selection \u2014 often of worn-out books, and, sometimes, a tinge of mildew \u2014 seem the antithesis of the digital age. And yet, they are thriving.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n