BONNYVILLE – A new project, the Free Little Library, is a Dove Centre initiative that has been established at the Bonnyville and District Centennial Centre (C2) to promote reading and book ownership.
The idea was to provide free books provided by the Dove Centre’s Bargain Boutique to encourage community and literacy, explained Sage Karras, a Dove Centre Disability Support Worker, who began working on the project last year.
While brainstorming ideas about how to house books in a way that provided easy access and protection from the elements, Karras reached out to the Bonnyville Nouvelle’s publisher Clare Gauvreau.
“Clare donated two of those newspaper box things to get us started,” she said. “Then, I had to connect with the Town and the C2 get them on board to be able to put one in the C2.”
Now fully operational, the Little Free Library will provide a mix of teen, kid and adult books. The program will operate on a ‘give a book, share a book’ system.
Community members won’t need to replace a book if they take one or return any books, as the Boutique has more than enough to keep the little library stocked, explained Karras.
“The goal is that our individuals at the Dove Centre can monitor the usage of (the library) and if it needs to be replenished, they can see what types of books need to go in there. And they can go to the Boutique, pull some new books, go and keep it replenished,” Karras said.
As the hockey season gets underway, Karras hopes that parents and youth who may be waiting for children or siblings at the arena will take advantage of the Free Little Library located near the C2’s lost and found.
Next spring, the Dove Centre hopes to establish a second Little Free Library at the splash park as well. The second box will be operated on a seasonal basis.
The project is also intended to draw more attention to the Bargain Boutique itself, which has numerous books for sale and allows kids to take one book each time they visit the store, she noted.
Books at the Boutique are priced at 25 cents apiece, or 10 books for $1.
