Lake Orion Gets Its First 'Little Free Library'

They’ve been called “water fountains of the old office days” – in other words, places where people gather for conversation and build neighborhood connections – and now Lake Orion Township has a Little Free Library of its own.

It’s located in Children’s Park in downtown Lake Orion. Visitors can take a book to read and keep it as long as they would like and also leave books for others to read.  More Little Library Boxes will be placed in locations  throughout the community in the spring.

“The new Little Library Box is a great way for the library to bring books out into the Lake Orion community,” Gina Crowther, Outreach Services Coordinator for the Orion Township Public Library, said in a news release.  “People who may not be able to get to the library or worry about due dates can still enjoy books. The Little Library Box encourages sharing the joy of reading by allowing patrons to add books to the collection.”

How the Movement Started

The Little Free Library movement began in Hudson, WI when Todd Bol decided to build a small library and fill it with books to be shared with friends, neighbors or passersby.

Bol undertook the project to honor his late mother, a schoolteacher. The idea is to "take a book and  leave a book," and it’s designed to encourage a passion for reading.

From a small beginning the movement has grown to an estimated 6,000 libraries in 36 countries, with the latest estimate of at least 1,650,000 books donated and borrowed since, January 2010.    

Little Free Libraries come in all shapes and sizes, they can be built or bought, are rarely vandalized, and can become a site of good conversation between neighbors.

For more information, visit the Orion Township Public Library at 825 Joslyn Road, Lake Orion, on the web at orionlibrary.org, or call (248) 693-3000. Regular library hours are 9:30 a.m.-9 p.m., Monday through Thursday, and 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.