Today we highlight and celebrate a couple of alternative libraries.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Chapter 1: Who are the hosts of this episode?
Hey, and welcome to The Short Stuff. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck, and we're sitting in for Dave today, and this is Short Stuff.
That's right, and we are here today to talk about, this is sort of a two-parter in one, about, I'm just calling this alt-libraries, as in alternative libraries. Sure. One reason is because I was on a walk the other day, and we have quite a few little free libraries in our neighborhood, and they are all super cute. If you don't know what we're talking about, they're...
Chapter 2: What are Little Free Libraries and how did they start?
Little boxes usually in the shape of a house or it could be a dog house or it could be a literal library or schoolhouse, just some sort of small house-y type structure with a little clear door. And inside are books that you can take a book, you can take a couple of books, you can leave a book. And it's just one of the great things. And I grabbed one.
I usually don't even look at them that much because I just have too many books I'm behind on already. But one popped up in my eye, peripheral vision that would be perfect for Ruby. So I grabbed it, and she's reading it and loving it. And so I thought we should do a little ode to alt libraries like this. What was the book? I can't remember. The Last Kids on Earth or something like that?
That sounds good. That may not be the title, but that's sort of the premise.
She might be too old for this, but maybe not. Has she ever read any of the scary stories to tell in the dark books?
I don't think. And it is actually called The Last Kids on Earth. It looks like it's a series. No. That sounds like something right up her alley, though.
Okay. Go to eBay and find whatever editions came out in the 80s. Okay. Because they have some of the greatest illustrations ever that made everything so much more unsettling. You have to get those watercolor illustrations or else don't even bother.
I'm looking at them now and they are terrifying.
They are. It's so great. I remember being a kid and just being like, this is so great. I feel so alive. Thanks for the rec. Yeah. There's also more scary stories of tunnel in the dark, pretty much equally good.
So maybe we should flip it and start with Little Free Library since I mentioned that one first as inspirato. But in 29, how the story goes, and this is straight from their website, a man named Todd Boll from Wisconsin, Hudson, Wisconsin, started it all when he built a little model of a schoolhouse, of a little one-room schoolhouse as a tribute to his mom, who's a teacher.
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Chapter 3: How did the Little Free Library movement grow and spread worldwide?
They started to give them away. They had charter signs. If it was an official one engraved with a charter number and it just people were into it and they start, you know, you see one of these things in your neighborhood. I remember when I saw the first one, I was like, wow, that's an incredible idea. And it felt like within that year we had like six or seven more.
Yeah, I remember the first time I saw one, I didn't get the concept. So I kind of burned it down a book that I wanted. And so I looked around to make sure no one was looking and put it in my jacket and ran off really quick.
I thought you got you got a bunch of books and you sold one eBay.
No, I just took one.
And sold it on eBay.
Yeah, eventually. But I said that when they started, they wanted to make 2508 of these things within a couple of years. They ended up surpassing that with a year and a half left before their goal date. And they just kept going from there. Apparently, Chuck, here's some mind boggling numbers for you. So they started in 2009.
In 2022, there were more than 150,000 little free libraries across the world in 120 different countries.
Yeah, I did not know it had gone international until I started doing this research. It's just incredible. Like I said, Brooks retired in 2014. Someone actually wrote in 2015, a woman named Margaret. Oh, she's a pretty famous author, actually, Margaret Aldrich. wrote the little free library book. So all of a sudden it's like launching books in and of itself.
They got in 2014, that same year, the Library of Congress Literacy Award. Just like people are lauding it. People are building these things like crazy. And it's just become one of the cool things that started here in the U.S. and then spread all over the place. Very sadly, in 2018, Todd Boll passed away from pancreatic cancer. after the launch of their 75,000th at the time Little Free Library.
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Chapter 4: What is the significance of Todd Boll in the Little Free Library story?
Chapter 5: What are some recommended books related to alternative libraries?
She might be too old for this, but maybe not. Has she ever read any of the scary stories to tell in the dark books?
I don't think. And it is actually called The Last Kids on Earth. It looks like it's a series. No. That sounds like something right up her alley, though.
Okay. Go to eBay and find whatever editions came out in the 80s. Okay. Because they have some of the greatest illustrations ever that made everything so much more unsettling. You have to get those watercolor illustrations or else don't even bother.
I'm looking at them now and they are terrifying.
They are. It's so great. I remember being a kid and just being like, this is so great. I feel so alive. Thanks for the rec. Yeah. There's also more scary stories of tunnel in the dark, pretty much equally good.
So maybe we should flip it and start with Little Free Library since I mentioned that one first as inspirato. But in 29, how the story goes, and this is straight from their website, a man named Todd Boll from Wisconsin, Hudson, Wisconsin, started it all when he built a little model of a schoolhouse, of a little one-room schoolhouse as a tribute to his mom, who's a teacher.
put it on a post, put some books in it and said, hey, everyone, if you want a book, take one. If you want to drop one off, that'd be great, too. And it was a big hit.
It was a huge hit, actually. So apparently Andrew Carnegie funded, I believe, twenty five hundred plus. For some reason, everybody says twenty five hundred and eight. So I'm guessing that's the number. Public libraries around the turn of last century or early last century.
And there's still plenty around that he essentially partnered with whatever local government and said, I'll give you a bunch of money or I'll throw in half or something like that. And that was one of the big pieces of philanthropy he was known for.
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Chapter 6: What is the plan after the break in this episode?
Okay, Chuck, so we already talked about little free libraries, which anybody can make. And if you want some tips, like we said, go check out the little free library book. If you saw that in a little free library, wouldn't the universe just collapse in on itself?
Yeah, you can also donate to them, of course.
Yeah, it's that kind of give a book, take a book thing. I don't know if we spelled it out or if we needed to, but that's the premise of it, right? Yeah. Another thing was called the Human Library, and this was the result of a couple of, who I take to be artists, brothers Ronnie Abergel and Danny Abergel. Yeah, have to be.
Yeah, for a festival in Denmark, about the year 2000, they created the Human Library. In Danish, they call it Meneske Biblioteket, but all one word.
Yeah, bibliotech, that's in a lot of languages, right?
Sure, but you add the E-T to the end and you've got Danish.
That's right.
So what they created with this human library was the concept that the books were human beings. And they were human beings that people might want to get information from. So they were human beings who were typically looked down upon, mistreated, had different experiences from the mainstream. So you had like books that were trans people, unhoused people, people from different races.
And you can check out one of these books, this human book, and hang out with them and ask them whatever question you want. And then you take them back and check out another one.
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