Wednesday 1 February 2017
Little Libraries - big potential
The almost inevitable entertainment personalities are signing on to the "little library" idea; one of the latest "UN-housed" is in Toronto's Liberty Village (for the record by no means one of Toronto's most deprived areas). It looks like the library idea, at least its quaint "little" version has achieved its latest five minutes of twenty-first century fame...
In all of this, there are some deeply important messages. Ideas matter and making them freely and conveniently available to all counts just as
much. Little libraries are free, self-sustaining and, importantly, unlike their more well known "public" versions, informal, without cultural or social entry
requirements. There is no dress, behavior or documentation code; these are little, FREE libraries
in the full sense of that word. They spring up spontaneously in parks, laundry rooms and on benches, wherever there are people, in fact. As
long as they are seen and understood as routes to action they contribute to being a full person and citizen.
AS FOR THE BIGGER LITTLE IDEA: If it matters for books it matters just as much for many other of life's necessities. With the developed world awash in so much stuff can there be any excuse for exclusion or deprivation? Embedded in the little library idea is the commons idea: there is more than enough for everybody and if we manage responsibly it will be here for all of us forever.
Stay tuned here for more on economic commons ideas and action. And please update us about little libraries and the like in your neighbourhoods.
# posted by Taodhg @ 7:32 am 
