Little free libraries on way to Hoover apartment complexes

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Fifteen Hoover apartment complexes soon could get easier and free access to library books thanks to generous donations by Hoover residents.

A donor who wished to remain anonymous gave $2,500 to the Hoover Public Library to cover the cost of five “little free libraries” to put in five Hoover apartment complexes.

After hearing about that, the Hoover Helps nonprofit group decided to purchase 10 more “little free libraries” and spread the joy of books around even more.

The “little free libraries” are wooden boxes that allow people in a community to share books with one another freely. Frequently, someone or a group of people provide an initial stockpile of books, and people can take the books, read them and return them to the box when they are done. Other people in the community can add to the collection as they please.

In this case, the Hoover Public Library plans to do the initial stocking of the five boxes funded by a donor, Library Director Amanda Borden said. There will be a variety of books, but the library plans to put a special emphasis on “early learning” books for young children and books for people learning to speak English as a second language, Borden said.

The Hoover Helps nonprofit plans to provide books for its “little free libraries” from donated books, Hoover Helps co-founder Greg Bishop said.

Hoover Helps just partnered with Hoover City Schools, the Hoover City Schools Foundation, Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce, Hoover Public Library and city of Hoover in a book drive as part of Kindness Week.

The groups put book bins at each Hoover school and numerous businesses to collect new and gently used books for distribution to children in the city and received more than 10,000 books, Bishop said.

“We were just blown away. We were hoping for maybe 1,000 books,” he said. “Another shot in the arm about where we live. This has been a great place to live where people care about their neighbors.”

Bishop said it’s a shame that some children don’t have books to read at home.

Borden said three of its “little free libraries” will be put at the Riverchase Landing, Ridge Crossings and Hawthorne at Lake Heather apartment complexes. The other complexes have yet to be confirmed.

The little libraries likely will be put in places people frequent, such as the complex clubhouses or mailbox stations, she said. The Hoover Public Works Department plans to install them with permission from the apartment complexes, she said.

Bishop said Hoover Helps already has established relationships with numerous apartment complexes because the group has helped deliver food to the complexes during the COVID-19 pandemic. That should make it easier to cooperate concerning the libraries, he said.

Borden said the library’s strategic plan already called for reaching out more beyond the library’s walls to serve the public and remove barriers that prevent people from using library services, such as a lack of transportation. This project fits nicely with that goal, she said.

The little libraries also could be used to share information about library services in general, Borden said. Some people don’t realize that library cards are free and provide free access to books and movies, she said.

The Hoover Public Library also soon will be installing a remote book locker at the East 59 Café in The Village at Lee Branch, Borden said. The library is eager to do more to serve residents of eastern Hoover more conveniently, she said.

Once this locker system is set up, people will be able to order books online, have them delivered to the lockers at East 59 Café, and then people can return them there when they are through with the books, she said. There also will be a small display of popular books through which people can browse, she said.