Photo courtesy of Ken Samson
In the day and age where words actually printed on paper are becoming something of an antiquated relic of the past, it’s a bit weird to see to see something like Little Free Libraries popping up around the D.C. area.
Nonetheless, more and more have been spotted around the area in recent months. At least five of these miniature book depositories can be found around the D.C. area—one at 13th Street and Florida Avenue NW, one in front of Grace Church in Georgetown, another at 15th and F Streets NE, and two in Takoma Park—and you can expect many more in the coming months.
Ken Samson, a D.C. resident, just launched a Kickstarter to help fund the construction of 12 more Little Free Libraries to go up in Takoma, the D.C. historic district, and Takoma Park, Md. A Little Free Library —which may seem like something from a Portlandia sketch—is exactly what it sounds like: A small structure where anyone can take or put in books for anyone else. Sometimes residents put them outside their homes, like Devon and John Steven, but more recently actual area libraries are taking an interest in them.
According to Samson’s Kickstarter, in a partnership with the Friends of the Library of Takoma Park, he’s working on ten libraries to pop up in public places throughout Takoma and Takoma Park, Md. Although he’s planning to build ten for just the Takoma and Takoma Park area, he also plans to put a bunch more in D.C. (He set up an additional GoFundMe page strictly for putting up Little Free Libraries in D.C. and other locales outside of Takoma Park).
So far he’s raised just over $1,200 of his $7,564 goal.
Although Samson was one of the first to put up a Little Free Library in the area, the idea has existed for a few years in other cities across the country. “The Little Free Library idea is not mine,” Samson tells DCist in an email. “It was created first by Todd Bol, of Wisconsin in 2010, who built the very first one to honor his mother, who was a school teacher.” And, according to Samson, there are “over 10,000 of them all over the world, yet only a handful of them in the District of Columbia.”
Samson said he estimates that the first Little Free Library is the one at 13 Street and Florida Avenue NW, and that it went up sometime in January of 2013. A few months later the one in Georgetown went up, followed by Samson’s first one, and then the one in front of the Steven’s house on F Street NE, and then Samson’s second one.”
“I hope by the end of 2014 we will have several dozen of them scattered throughout the city, in public parks, on trails, on school grounds, as well as in residential neighborhoods,” Samson said. And who says print is dead?
