A New Chapter for Libraries

booksellers along the Bosporus, Istanbul                                                     KW

Contrary to popular belief, the book is not dead. Part of the proof is those cute little birdhouse-type free libraries in front yards. In some areas, people are putting them up despite official disapproval. According to a February commentary in the Los Angeles Times, "Officials in Los Angeles and Shreveport, La., have told the owners of homemade lending libraries that they're in violation of city codes, and asked them to remove or relocate their small book collections" (http://lat.ms/1IGbTDh). Still, over the last few years, they have continued to sprout up, even in Los Angeles (http://somanyinterestingthings.blogspot.com/2013/03/very-public-libraries.html). I don't know how much they're used, but that may not be the point. They are, IMHO, adorable and friendly and keeping books and the idea of reading front and center for anyone who sees them, including kids.
   These little book houses may be just part of an evolution away from the traditional public library, says journalist Alex Johnson in his book Improbable Libraries. "The very concept of a library is evolving," he writes: "many of these libraries operate on principles that differ fundamentally from the workings of most traditional public and university libraries." Whether they're pop-up bookstores or open-air, 24/7 "social structures" or librarians on camelback, they are proof of people's need for the communal and convivial and of how books and the sharing of them can fill it (slideshow): http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150409-the-worlds-oddest-libraries