Third-grader VV Welsh of Still River checks out the offerings in the newly erected Little Free Library in Still River Village adjacent to the old post office. (Photo by Tim Clark)
It was a great book—a real page-turner with lots of plot twists. But you aren’t going to read it again, now that you know all its surprises. And your friends aren’t into—fill in your favorite genre here—spy thrillers, sword and sorcery, police procedurals, or British-cozy murder mysteries. So what can you do with this book you’d like to share with someone?
With the Harvard Public Library’s book sale on hold for at least a few more months, there’s another possibility in town—a new Little Free Library in Still River.
Still River resident Kate Lucey was walking along the shore of Lake Dunmore in Vermont when she saw a little wooden box with a door, just lying on the ground beside the lake. She recognized it at once as the typical small, slope-roofed structure used for Little Free Libraries, so she brought it home, cleaned it up, and began to plan.
Still River residents were still heartbroken, Lucey said, by the closure of the post office at the center of their community. So she decided to put the new little library at the intersection of Still River and Still River Depot roads, across from the old post office. Because part of that land is town property, she took her plan to the Select Board, which heartily approved her request May 4.
Less than a week later, the little library was up and running, mounted on its sturdy post. Warren Harrod, the unofficial “mayor of Still River” officiated at a ribbon cutting last Saturday, May 8. Neighbor Arlene Genova brought flowers to enhance the library’s setting.
Lucey has registered the Still River site with the worldwide Little Free Library organization, where her library has its own charter number. Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization that was started in 2009. Today, there are over 100,000 registered libraries in more than 100 countries.
While everyone is welcome to take a book or leave a book, Lucey said she sees the Little Free Libraries as especially appealing to children. She hopes more people will bring children’s books to donate for a new generation of readers.
Lucey’s library is not yet on the Little Free Library website world map, but another local Little Free Library that opened this week does appear there already. Located on Madigan Lane, that library is operated by Jeanne Schkeryantz. In an interview with the Press last fall, Schkeryantz said she planned to encourage local authors and others she has met around the world to contribute original works to the library.
Other Little Free Libraries—official and unofficial in the area—were also described in that article last September at https://bit.ly/3eCS9pv.
