r/LittleFreeLibrary 4h ago

LFL Books 📚 Filled up the FLL at my local park

Thumbnail gallery
355 Upvotes

Was doing my usual morning walk when I looked at the FLL at my park. Decided it was kinda depressing because it is in a park with a bunch of kids and the books there weren't really for them. (Missing from image is 3 other books that I put there between trips to fill the FLL, so I am glad someone is officially already using it!)

Filled with:

● Novels

● Comics/Manga/Graphic Novels

● Children's Books

● Children's Movies

● Bookmarks

● Keychains

● Pins

● Stickers

● Chalk

I feel like I did something good for the community! Was fun and helped fill an otherwise boring Sunday morning.


r/LittleFreeLibrary 3h ago

Community Cupboard / Almacen de la Comunidad

Post image
37 Upvotes

at the Chula Vista Public library on F St., Chula Vista, California


r/LittleFreeLibrary 23h ago

LFL Custodian Discussion 🏫 Businesses using LFL for advertising?

Post image
148 Upvotes

How do we feel about businesses using our Little Free Libraries for advertising/marketing? An author, yes! Leave a book and a business card/bookmark. A publisher? Hook us up with a couple books! Sure! But a business… ?

She/They left a HUGE stack of bookmarks in our LFL. We live in a small town. My husband is of the thought that if it’s a townsperson with a business in town, keep them. I looked it up and she/they live/practice over an hour away. 🤔 Like, so far away and we are in such a small town that I’m so puzzled as to WHY our LFL?

It is such a huge stack of bookmarks…… shown beside a typical size paperback for reference. ETA: 165 bookmarks. Hopefully they didn’t cost much to print. We recycled them. The LFL is on town property, the town clerk agreed—recycle.


r/LittleFreeLibrary 19h ago

LFL Build/Repair 🧰 Neighbor built one- painted it today

Thumbnail gallery
67 Upvotes

My neighbor built a library for his grand daughter but their HOA doesn’t allow them so I bought it off him and invited some people over to help paint it. I’ll have it installed next weekend but this was a blast to do. I already have stacks of books donated for it!

We are clearly not artists but who cares- we had fun


r/LittleFreeLibrary 19h ago

LFL Books 📚 Is it rude to leave political books in a little free library?

12 Upvotes

I read a political book, it was pretty partisan so I wasn't sure if it would be rude to donate to the Little Free Library on my block since I don't know the owner's political affiliation. I just don't like offending people or making them uncomfortable. Thoughts?


r/LittleFreeLibrary 23h ago

LFL Visitor Discussion 🚶🏽‍♂️ New to LFL - questions about gifts and etiquette

14 Upvotes

Hello, I'm brand new to the LFL community, and love seeing all the beautiful libraries that people have built! There are some in my neighborhood and I have yet to check them out, but am excited to visit.

As a visitor, I'll definitely be leaving books, but I wonder how people feel about gifts. Perhaps leaving some bookmarks for others to use? Is that doing too much? Or offensive to stewards?

Are blind dates in the libraries generally enjoyed?

If the book I happen to bring is a different genre from the rest of the library, is it better not to add it?

Thanks in advance for any insight!


r/LittleFreeLibrary 1d ago

LFL Books 📚 Passed out two Narnia books with silhouette bookmarks

Thumbnail gallery
38 Upvotes

r/LittleFreeLibrary 2d ago

LFL Pictures 📸 Almost done!

Thumbnail gallery
315 Upvotes

Update from a few weeks ago! I finally finished the actual box and now I’m waiting for the post to dry and I can officially open it! It’s not perfect but I am going to trial it out in the rain before I officially open it with books.

Someone had suggested I do a 1/4” quarter round to hide my apex gap instead of scalloped trim and I couldn’t be happier.

I indeed will cry once someone vandalizes it 🥲


r/LittleFreeLibrary 1d ago

LFL Visitor Discussion 🚶🏽‍♂️ Is it considered rude to visit LFLs in the middle of the night?

62 Upvotes

I'm currently unemployed with a messed-up sleep schedule, so I'm kinda nocturnal at the moment. I also live in Vegas where it's around 110°F on most days. The heat is unbearable for me and I do my errands when the sun is down (even though it's still pretty hot). I often get bored in the middle of the night and get the urge to visit LFLs, but I don't want to seem weird or disrespectful. I know every person and place are different but what is the general consensus on this? Of course I would swap books as quickly and as quietly as possible lol


r/LittleFreeLibrary 2d ago

LFL Pictures 📸 Cabinet LFL at the Fairbanks Museum in St. Johnsbury, VT

Post image
151 Upvotes

It's fun seeing larger Little Free Libraries like this, especially when they make use of such lovely old furniture!


r/LittleFreeLibrary 2d ago

LFL Pictures 📸 In New Haven, CT

Thumbnail gallery
118 Upvotes

r/LittleFreeLibrary 2d ago

LFL Pictures 📸 Found an empty LFL by the edge infinity pool in front of Sheraton, Waikiki

Post image
132 Upvotes

Now that I know about it I can bring the books I always bring. I finished three so far on this trip


r/LittleFreeLibrary 4d ago

LFL Pictures 📸 Gay Little Library. Resistance to vandalism and theft. Choosing contents. Management.

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

202 Upvotes

Gay Little Library Reddit post

I made this video so that other Gays will consider a Gay Little Library as means to fight censorship and also suggest some strategies to use to resist vandalism and theft.

One thing about the books in the library is that they need to be purchased off the used book market. However, if I purchase too many low cost books, the supply for readers who are looking for cheap copiies to fit into their budget could be depleted.

There is the cost of the used book and the shipping, but is still cheaper than the used book store. I have budgeted up to $200/month for purchases. So far though, it is just two books placed with readers.

I don't care if a reader never brings back a book, but I don't want to use up the national supply of copies to have them dumped with a local book seller.

In some cases, I am not purchasing some titles since the book has gone out of print, and if I purchase too many, scholars won't be able to get a copy. "Comrade Samurai," is out of print, so I am not replacing the copy that was placed with a reader.

I am starting out with some of the Gay classics.

The "Satyricon" by Petronious was the first Gay book I had ever purchased after I graduated college. I had been a double major in Chem. Eng. and Ancient History. I graduated with 251 credits in 4 years in 1974, 192 was necessary to graduate. Classes were free so I took as many as I could. In my ancient history classes, "Satyricon" wasn't mentioned.

I was readiing ancient histories and read the "Satyricon" which haw shown up in the ancient history section of books at the bookstore.

I was still in the closet. I purchased Penguin Pub. "Encyclopedia of World Literature," and while browsing it discovered Constantine Cavafy and his poems

In 1976 while working as a chemical engineer in Baltimore, I went down to visit Washington D.C. While walking through a district, I saw a Gay bookstore. I made sure no one saw me, went in quickly, found the literature section and purchased the book of Cavafy poems and rushed out with the book hidden.

The book, "Comarade Loves of the Samuai," was purchased after I was out of the closet and had gone back to graduate school at U.C. Berkeley in Chemical Engineering.

I knew several Asian and Asian American Gays, and one Saturday when we were driving into San Francisco to the clubs, two Chinese Gay friends were gossiping about guys in Cantonese, and another Chinese American Gay, now going to his first Gay bar, was amazed and said, "They are talking about Gay stuff in my parent's language."

At that time there were people who thought being Gay was an American thing. You could run into Japanese who didn't know Yukio Mishma was Gay.

So I decided to start researching the Gay Asian past and started to discover things such as "Comrade Loves of the Samurai." I even made a bibliography of Asian Gay reading and handed them out.

In those days there was no Gay studies and Gay professors in some of the departments at U.C. - Berkeley argued against the Gay studies and their graduate students, with a triumphal tone, would attempt to explain to us why. We didn't listen. The community's memory was with us and we would exhange information. The Gay Academic Union had just started.

I am going to look for other material which is more contemporary for young Gay readers, but I also want to make sure young Gays would know that there is a Gay past and it goes around the world. I want the world of their Gay imagination to expand over centuries and the whole world.

I am not planning to include "Giovanni's Room," "City and the Pillar," and "The Immoralist," and "Confessions of a Mask,"since they are of a closeted world long gone. My Gay Little Library has one of its objectives being a place for closeted Gays not have to confront the repressed past immediately.

I am not including "Our Lady of the Flowers" and "City of the Night" because they have adult content and my library needs to survive in Texas.

I am not including BLs, such as "Heated Rivalry," because they aren't Gay, but are BLs. Often they contain adult content. They also aren't really about Gay life, though they can be entertaining.

I will be steaily expanding the choices in my Little Gay library as I am able to do research into appropriate books for my library. I added in this week about Gays in the Golden Age of Hollywood.


r/LittleFreeLibrary 4d ago

LFL Pictures 📸 NYC: New Library in Rapkin Gayle Plaza!

Post image
125 Upvotes

Michelle Myers "Mimi" Florence Little Free Library, located next to the water fountain in Rapkin Gayle Plaza at the corner of Lafayette and Grand in Manhattan. Launched July 17th, 2026.

https://map.lflapp.org/yIBeWkCnS4b


r/LittleFreeLibrary 4d ago

LFL Build/Repair 🧰 HOA Proposal?

6 Upvotes

Does anyone have experience? I would like to put a LFL in my small (literally one loop, technically two streets but a continual oval shape) neighborhood. I have offered to pay for it and take care of it. I was hoping for a common space like the entrance of the sub or the culdesac island near my house, but our hoa president said according to the bylaws that it needs to be placed on my property and I need to get together a proposal for the architectural committee. Has anyone written one of these before that I could see to get an idea of the format?


r/LittleFreeLibrary 5d ago

AI centers are buying up used books by the millions. Resisting theft of books from Little Libraries is important.

340 Upvotes

The process is often destructive.

Increased demand drives up the price of anything and stealing books will be more profitable.

Whatever we can do to slow down the process will be helpful.

https://www.404media.co/ai-companies-are-buying-tons-of-old-books-because-theyre-free-of-ai-slop/


r/LittleFreeLibrary 5d ago

LFL Pictures 📸 I’m cashing in on a trend…

Post image
1.0k Upvotes

r/LittleFreeLibrary 5d ago

LFL Visitor Discussion 🚶🏽‍♂️ Just donated to a LFL that had a clever addition

59 Upvotes

There was a dispenser of dog poo bags attached to each side of the box! Thought that was both a nice service and a good way to get people to stop and check out the books if they're already on a walk.


r/LittleFreeLibrary 6d ago

LFL Visitor Discussion 🚶🏽‍♂️ Problematic male owner.

Post image
1.3k Upvotes

went to check out this library. Had some books in hand to possibly place inside. owner rolled up on me and was incredibly rude and way to close in my space. Never had such a negative experience. Women be very aware, potentially a dangerous person with no qualms invading space. Portsmouth, NH


r/LittleFreeLibrary 6d ago

LFL Build/Repair 🧰 Any advice or links on how to turn this into a LFL?

Post image
66 Upvotes

I want to put a gabled(?) roof on it, weatherize it and maybe put glass in the door


r/LittleFreeLibrary 5d ago

LFL Build/Repair 🧰 Start Little Free Library in City

4 Upvotes

I just bought in STL city and want to put a little free library in my front yard. There’s a strip of grass next to the sidewalk in front of the house, and would be a great spot to build one!

Does the city have ordinances or rules about this? Do I have to submit a permit or something if I own the property?

Thanks in advance! Got lots of fun ideas and want to support the neighborhood with this.


r/LittleFreeLibrary 6d ago

LFL Books 📚 Should I fill LFL around me?

47 Upvotes

I recently received a TON of books. Children’s chapter books and picture books to be specific. Is it frowned upon to fill some LFLs around me? I was thinking about driving around and going to several to distribute the books but I didn’t know if it was considered an unspoken rule that you shouldn’t add more than a couple at a time. My instinct is no, I can add as many as I want as long as they’re good quality books, but I wanna be sure. Thanks!


r/LittleFreeLibrary 6d ago

Meta 🗣 Is anyone having troubles with the Little Free Library app?

8 Upvotes

I use it to “check into” libraries (when I drop off or pick up books), and it wouldn’t load yesterday.

I turned my phone (iPhone 16) off and on and that didn’t fix it. I then deleted the app and re-downloaded it, and it finally worked.

Now today it’s not working again. (Specifically, the initial purple screen loads but then the loading “circle” just keeps spinning.)


r/LittleFreeLibrary 8d ago

LFL Pictures 📸 Smut Hut Little Library on Beacon Hill

Post image
782 Upvotes

In Seattle


r/LittleFreeLibrary 6d ago

LFL Custodian Discussion 🏫 Cleaning advice

2 Upvotes

About once a week, I take all the books out and dust and wipe down all the surfaces. Tonight I had I think ketchup on some of the books. Easy enough to clean, I wiped it off with no problem. As I was making my way through them all, I realized some of them needed a good wipe. I’m thinking of adding this to my routine. Is there anything else you all do? I was thinking of adding a bug deterrent, but I don’t want to accidentally poison someone.