The Syracuse Little Free Library had their first public meeting on Friday to celebrate the launch of the first Little Library in Syracuse in the form of a remodeled phone booth on Gifford Street. This new structure is the first of five in Syracuse and a part of a national movement to promote literacy and community.
Little Free Library started in Madison, Wisconsin, according to its website, as an elaboration on the “Take a book, leave a book” bookshelves which exist in coffee shops and other public places around the nation. The organization builds birdhouse-shaped book holders to serve as the libraries where users can donate any books they wish to share and take any books they wish to read. With dozens of cities sporting Little Free Libraries across the nation, Syracuse University students and residents of the city helped Syracuse join the movement on Friday.
“We’re been working with the community members and students to make sure it’s something the community really wants,” said Jaime Snyder, a library and information technology doctoral student at Syracuse University and leader of the project. Snyder and SYR-LFL Library did research to make sure the Syracuse community could find use for the libraries and also how to build structures strong enough to last through harsh Central New York winters. “We wanted to see what’s already here, some weather proof structures that already exist,” Snyder said.
Students in the college of Visual and Performing Arts were tasked with designing the structures. Senior interior design student Michele Palotta said, “The first thing we did was walk around and find inspiration.” One recurring element they kept seeing around town was old abandoned phone booths.
Zeke Leonard, a Faculty member at VPA and design leader of the project said, “We have something that used to be about information exchange—a phone booth—and we have something that we want to be about information exchange—the libraries.” Not only will the design deviate from the iconic birdhouse appearance, but the way the way SYR-LFL is making them is innovative as well.
Kate Malatesta
, an interior design senior explained that instead of creating all new structures for the libraries, the VPA students build add-on structures that fit onto existing phone booths to turn them into libraries.
The whole structure costs about $250, fitting into SYR-LFL’s “shoe string” budget, said Leonard.
As for the books, SYR-LFL plans on sticking to the Little Free Library norm: donations. The LFL website recommends how-to books, cook books, books on local history and other non-fiction literature. But on Friday SYR-LFL had an oversized piece of paper sprawled out on a table for recommendations with popular titles such as “Harry Potter,” and “The Way of the Peaceful Warrior.” For the most part, this Little Free Library will be up for anything.
By Joey Cosco
jjcosco@syr.edu