(PRINCETON JUNCTION, NJ) -- Little Free Libraries are a global phenomenon. To date‚ the small front-year book exchanges number over 50,000 globally in 70 countries – from Iceland to Tasmania to Pakistan. Now, the West Windsor Arts Center, at 952 Alexander Road, has joined this world-wide movement with its own new Little Free Library to share books, bring people together and create communities of readers.
“Last summer, while vacationing in the Pacific Northwest, I finished reading the book I had brought and exchanged it for another at the Little Free Library on San Juan Island. I had seen these around, at the Hopewell Train Station and at the Community Garden in West Windsor, and I started thinking about having one at the West Windsor Arts Center,” says Ilene Dube, a member of the West Windsor Arts Center and past president of the Board of Trustees.
To create the red box with a clear glass hatch door and two shelves of books, Dube immediately thought of local West Windsor woodworker Ted Ross, who was birding in Borneo at the time. “I know that I have a lot of chutzpah to write to you about this, but on the other hand, wouldn't you feel left out if I didn't think of you?” She emailed him. Ross, a long-time WWAC supporter, was himself a big time fan of Little Free Libraries that dot his daughter's Brooklyn neighborhood.
Upon his return, Ross set to work. “Building the library was a nice diversion from the more typical large projects such as tables and dressers that I had been working on,” he says. Soon the Little Free Library was complete, and it was only a matter of waiting for the ground to thaw so Ross could dig for the post. An early thaw in mid-February made this possible. “Digging a post hole 36 inches in frozen soil was not the fun way to finish this project so when the thermometer hit sixty degrees, I knew it was time to jump”, adds Ross.
“We are thrilled to have this expression of creative place-making as part of the West Windsor Arts Center,” says Executive Director Aylin Green. “It is real evidence for the care and love of place that Ted Ross and Ilene Dube have shared with the community.”
The Little Free Library has quickly filled with books and has become a welcome addition at the Arts Center, where visitors enjoy the give and take of books. As the small plaque just below the door reads, “Take a Book – Leave a Book.”
The Little Free Library nonprofit organization has been honored by the Library of Congress, the National Book Foundation, and the American Library Association, and Reader's Digest named them one of the "50 Surprising Things We Love about America." The first Little Free Library was built in 2009. Each year, over 10 million books are share in Little Free Libraries.
About the West Windsor Arts Council: Their mission is to provide professional quality community arts programming in order to support, educate, inspire, and promote the arts and art appreciation. Founded in 2002, the West Windsor Arts Council opened the doors of the new West Windsor Arts Center on September 25, 2010 in the historic Princeton Junction Firehouse at 952 Alexander Road, West Windsor, NJ 08550. For information on the West Windsor Arts Council and West Windsor Arts Center, please visit www.westwindsorarts.org.
