Little Free Libraries have been popping up in neighborhoods for awhile now, bringing happiness and spreading a love for books and reading, and helping people know their neighbors. A new Little Free Library built in Weinland Park at 4th Street Farms will be dedicated Saturday, June 11, 2016 at 11am. Festivities will last through 1pm.
“Part of our mission at 4th Street Farms is education and empowerment,” says Evelyn Van Til, a neighborhood civic leader and community organizer. “Books are a big piece of opening up worlds of possibility. This project builds on our work in empowering people to grow their own food and choose their own paths.”
Van Til has been involved with programming offered to residents of Weinland Park, including a series of early literacy programs held at 4th Street Farms, in partnership with A Good Start.
“Last summer we did “Weeds and Words,” “Books and Berries,” and other programs where we read a book and did a short activity, like pick berries or pull weeds, and enjoy a snack,” she says. “The Little Free Library, offering a little library onsite for people to sit in and read together, extends that program and we wanted to have a LFL ready for kids this summer.”
Van Til sees this Little Free Library as a gateway to the neighborhood, nestled about half a block north of Weinland Park Elementary School and the Schoenbaum Family Center for Early Learning and Community Programs, and near the actual park grounds in Weinland Park.
“Both the front and the alley of 4th Street Farms are high pedestrian areas with lots of kids,” she says. “Our LFL has a naturally eye-catching design that draws people to seek it out.”
The design includes 18 cubbies to organize a variety of books, including children’s books, which were provided with a grant from A Good Start, and books for teens and adults. The inclusion of benches was critical to allow people a place to relax and enjoy the space.
“The design is really neat because you can sit inside of the library on the benches and read, so already we have people scheduling sewing club and book club meetings in the space,” says Van Til. “It’s a space that people meet, talk, and share ideas around. We are excited to see all the creative and heartfelt ways this LFL may impact lives!”
The original building plans included making a little free library from scrap wood and putting together a simple design in an afternoon. Then a design with more personality was desired and research led the team to a wonderful outdoor library in Russia.
“It knocked our socks off,” says Van Til. “Once we saw that picture of a little library in a park, we had to build it for 4th Street Farms. The design provided space for lots of books, seating to enjoy the books, and the structure was large enough that it would stop people from parking in the back of the garden. Way better than a no parking sign!”
The project advanced to “a full-scale parklet-type project with community engagement, fundraising, timelines, design & CNC time, and, of course, building the actual thing” with the final design completed by Woody Drake.
Drake took inspiration from the original and modified it, adding clear doors to each cubby (doors use gravity and a magnetic catch to close automatically and keep books out of the elements), creating more usable shelf space, and reworking it for rain control.
Karsten Look, of The Columbus Idea Foundry, created the CNC designs for the structure.
“It looks like wood, but is actually Exterion, which is like plastic MDF, and is used by museums to stand up to high traffic and not rot,” says Van Til.
The concrete base was put in place during Roots & Roofs, an annual community service day in the neighborhood, by Drake and a team of volunteers from 4th Street Farms. Flooring and trim for doors are made from cedar.
The cubby doors were donated by COSI, and it really has been a community effort to get to the finished product.
To fund the project, the group relied on donations of product, books, and money, and also held a fundraising event at Strongwater, where they came out ahead of their $2,000 goal.
The evening included donations by Strongwater of $2 from each 4th St Farms Mojito sold (the mint being from 4th Street Farms) and a silent auction which included a painting by artist Aaron Thomas, of Monastic Arts.
“The silent auction helped us raise enough that night to more than meet our goal and paved the way for Aaron to continue his mural work in the garden, now on the Little Free Library,” says Van Til.
“I am so proud to see what the Weinland Park stakeholders have done to revitalize the area,” says Thomas. “I remember those dark days in years past where violence showered down like rain.”
Thomas is working on an airbrushed mural to go on the library structure, which will hopefully be done by Saturday, save for weather delays.
“The weather has been a bit touchy as of late, slightly slowing the process a tad, which reminds us that when it comes to gardens and farms, as everything in life, that nature/weather is “KING” – hence, Natural Law,” he says.
Thomas brings themes of nature into the garden. He became involved with the 4th Street Farms last year when they had put a call to artists in the community to design and draft a concept for the first mural. The project received funding through the United Way and The Columbus Foundation.
“I graciously won the competition and was humbled by the cool experience of painting it,” he says. He hopes the mural ‘Celestial Precession’ sparks the audience’s imagination and curiosities, to help establish a safe nurturing space used for creative programming, education, fellowship, and more. “Thus transforming lives, families, and ultimately the city, with art and literacy.”
4th Street Farms began in late 2010, when the 6th Street Community Garden (operated by the Weinland Park Garden Club) ceded land to housing, and the group was given access to the land at 1377 N. 4th Street in April 2011.
The lot is owned by Campus Partners and they have leased it to 4th Street Farms at no cost.
“Campus Partners has pledged to continue to support the work at 4th Street Farms, and the 5th Street Bird Sanctuary, as part of their ongoing commitment to Weinland Park,” says Van Til. “We are working with them to find a way to permanently make both properties community green spaces.”
The lot had been home to a woman who passed away and then the house was vacant, eventually falling to arson and attracting crime and litter.
“It was part of a historically troubled Short North spot at 8th Ave & 4th Street, until our community transformed it into a vibrant garden,” says Van Til.
Now the space has active involvement from neighbors and the community that tends the garden. Some come out of their kitchens for a quick item for a recipe, such as cilantro or chives. Or they may get an apple or berries. Others drop off compost. Some pull weeds. But all enjoy the green space and meeting neighbors.
“To make all this happen, we were very fortunate to have a very supportive community who, like us, fell in love with the design and saw a natural alignment in mission,” says Van Til. “Little Free Libraries follow a ‘Take a Book. Leave a Book.’ method. Similarly, 4th Street Farms has a 22 foot sign that spells out our free farm message: ‘Give Time. Get Food.’ Books open up worlds of possibility. Gardening is also possibility – and a belief in the future that requires reading the land. That reading, that literacy is empowering!”
Join 4th Street Farms for the dedication of their Little Free Library on Saturday, June 11, 2016 from 11am-3pm. Help place the first books into the library. There will be story time, snacks, and a celebration. Bring a book to leave there, if you’d like to take one with you. 4th Street Farms is located at 1377-1379 N 4th St, Columbus, Ohio 43201. For more information, visit 4thstreetfarms.com.