A New Library Comes to Town

Yes, there’s a new library in town. It’s just out front of the St. James’ Church (across from the H-E-B). It’s in a small, doghouse-looking structure on a pole next to the sidewalk and near the church’s historical marker (founded in 1855).

The name: “Little Free Library” (LFL). And it is little. Measuring only 18” by 18” with a pitched roof to keep the rain out, it houses – at present – only 27 books. Some for kids; some for adults.

I am well aware there are larger libraries in the country. For example, the largest, the Library of Congress on the mall in DC holds 178 million items. Quite a bit larger than Little’s 27.

Maybe so, but the Library of Congress has only three branches (buildings); our LFL has 150 thousand registered sister libraries. And you can find them in 120 countries. DC’s big boy? In only one, the US. The Library of Congress has had ample time to grow and flourish. James Madison conceived of the idea of a national library in 1783, 242 years ago. And President John Adams founded it in 1800.

By contrast, the Little Free Library was the brainchild of Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin in 2009. Bol’s idea spread all over the world like lightning, in a mere 16 years. It came to La Grange recently with the LFL at St. James’ being one of four in our community.

And who is it who brought the idea to our community? None other than St. James’s own Susie Glasscock.

Aggies may know of Susie via another book-related project, the prestigious Susanne M. Glasscock Book Prize, awarded annually by The Center for Humanities Research at Texas A&M University. This past November marked the 25th year of the Prize.

On the other hand, local Rice Owl alumnae may know her name via the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies at that storied institution.

Susie and hubby Mel have been stalwart members of St. James’ for decades and have been major supporters of the beautiful Episcopal church that welcomes all and is known by some as La Grange’s “concert church.”

Their generosity has meant much to St. James’ and to the community at large. Now we have this sweet little library where anyone can get a free book at any time. The motto of the Little Free Library is, “Take a Book, Leave a Book.” But if you do not have one to leave on your first visit, feel free to “take one”–– and that will be your “leave one” when you return.

When I was a youngster there was a lot more talk about sharing books rather than banning them. Let’s hope that the Little Free Library at St. James’takes us back there just a bit.

Sharing is a good thing.