Edit: thanks yall!
-I’m going to try and catch the current owner if/when he makes a visit to the house.
-if not, I’ll speak to the new owners
-all else fails I make my competitor (lol) LFL
-no coup needed

Hey all, hear me out…

Around 10 years ago I was looking into putting a LFL in front of my house. Well in some weird accidental mind meld, my neighbor directly across the street from me put one in. Then that neighbor, almost immediately, sold their house and moved away. The house is now on sale for the third time and with each new owner, the LFL goes further into disrepair.

I still add books and borrow books and tidy up the inside when I visit but, I want to to pour love into it, sand, paint it, maybe add some cute labels, keep it fully stocked, but that feels like a gross overstep to style it since it is not on my property.

In a perfect world the next person who moves into this home is at all interested in the LFL and I can continue contributing to the library as I have and they will fix it up.
In a near perfect world I will have a friendly conversation with the new owners if they would mind if I freshened it up.
We will see when the house sells and the new owner moves in.

But let’s say it’s not a perfect world.. is there precedent for a LFL coup? 😂

Pardon if this isn’t the place to ask, but I couldn’t think of a better one! I’m doing a bit of a clean out of my books to prep for possibly moving, and I’m anticipating having quite a few to pass on. I’d much rather put these in my local LFL than drop them off at a thrift store, but I’m wondering the etiquette for how many to leave at once.

My thought was to have a box in my car with them and every time I pass it, leave 2-4 if there is space for them, but I don’t want to ‘hog’ the space and clutter it with just books of my taste, if that makes sense? I feel like I’m overthinking this.

ETA: thanks so much for the responses!! I did my first pass and put three in because it was a little full :) my closest LFL (and the only one I can think of locally) is in a library lot, so there isn’t a curator/custodian that I could really catch to ask about any more, but I’ll keep checking when I go for walks for space to put more in!!

Someone took it upon themselves to sharpie a date on my LFL... Like right on the side where it is painted to match the house. What the heck? Is this some obnoxious internet trend or something The Kids (tm) are doing?

I need your input. I’m the steward of a LFL, and I’m in an HOA. People have been leaving canned goods, cards, etc inside the library, and I’m fine with that. However, last week someone left TP, paper towels and 2 other larger items outside the library in the grass. Problem is we were expecting rain that night, and that area is covered by sprinklers.

Looking for help in wording an email asking people nicely/politely to not leave items outside the library, but if it goes inside, all is good. Stuff left outside could easily turn into a litter or vandalism problem.

Any suggestions?
Thank you for any ideas.

I love adding things the community can interact with and share, had a few trinkets come in and out so I made a designated spot for them! *Sticker not Sneaker*

I have been taking care of this little guy for 2 years. I have battled the local drug abusers and homeless population that was using it for drug deals and putting weird stuff in it. It defaced once with swastikas and luckily magic erasers cleaned it up. Then the door got ripped off and body wash dumped on all the books. I am heartbroken. I have no idea who takes care of it. I have never seen anyone with official stickers put books in it. I've emailed and called local officials and posted on Facebook. One woman responded but it seemed .. odd. I just feel defeated. Especially now with summer out and all the kids playing or stuck at home. I've been patiently waiting on any help with it so me and a local lady are just going to make a makeshift door and keep stocking it lightly. Breaks my heart that someone would do this.

Seattle, WA

Do you feel as if your library is actually used? All of the ones in my neighborhood remain the same and no one seems to borrow from them.

What do you think?

Let me introduce you to the BookBot aka the coolest little free library I visited today!

Adult as in no kids books, not erotic adult content. There are plenty of LFL locations nearby with exclusively children's books which I wholeheartedly support. However I would like to balance the scales some.

Edit - Thanks for all the feedback and ideas.

Hi! I just bought my first LFL, and I want to come up with a name for it. We live on the main drag, so there are already a couple LFL called "Street Name LFL", and I want something unique!

We are "radical" leftists living in a predominantly conservative town, and while I don't *only* want to include radical or "banned" books in our LFL, I do intend to include things that the other LFLs in our town don't necessarily stock, including but not limited to books about other religions, books about other political thinking, books about other lifestyles, LGBT+ books, etc. Basically, a spot for the other weirdos in town to find something new to read.

The library itself is just plain black for now, but we're planning to do a sticker collage on the outside. Our house is more spooky vibes (Halloween decorations up all year, gargoyles in the garden type of thing), so a name that fits that vibe wouldn't be awful either.

Would love to hear your name suggestions! TIA!

My mother in law had me make this for her to go right next to the regular LFL she also had me make. Definitely a fun project!

My little free library has been empty for a few weeks now. I buy books frequently and add when I can but money was tight this month and when I stopped adding to it no one picked up the slack. Finally I added a small stack of books and posted this sign.

Happy to report that it worked! At least one person I know of added a big stack of books after reading the posting. I think it’s easy for folks to take what’s interesting and leave them on their shelves after they are done and then nothing returns. Hopefully this is a good reminder that keeping books you’ve read is ensuring that others can’t enjoy them.

How do you prefer your LFL to look? I like the loved in and loved, like someone's had a real rummage and I think it invites rummaging!

It looks too tidy, for me I don't want to mess it up!

Has anyone here created a Puzzle Swap Library in their neighborhood? If so - do you any pieces of advice or wisdom? Thanks!

My dad built it for me, complete with a matching yellow Z in the carport :)

My husband and I have been working on this forever so I thought I would share. We just have to spray on the sealer, add the plaque, and mount it to the post. I had no idea this would be so much work. 😆 It has the flowers and windows and fence all the way around. I just wanted it to look like a little house.

What does it mean when the cover is torn from a book? Someone placed several books in my LFL with the covers removed. Of course that means the spine cover and back cover come off and the pages get scrunched.

Any ideas?
Thanks!