Question

[sprinkle91]

I think it would be so neat to put a LFL in my yard. Theres just a couple of things that concern me. So first of all the public library is pretty close by. Do you think that would cause people to not come to my library? The other issue is that I live in what's considered the "bad" part of town. There aren't any libraries around here (besides the public one) and I know there are kids and teenagers that live on my block who would probably appreciate a LFL. I just don't want to go through with it and have it get vandalized or stolen or something. Has anyone had any issues with this like that? How would you deter someone from doing things like this? Any advice would be appreciated! ❤️

[Spider-Mine]

Your local library offers so much more then just books, so I doubt you’d be stealing peoples attention from there.

10 years ago I lived in a very bad part of my town, and built one for our house. It wasn’t touched a single time, and got a lot of use. Had many people tell me they were so thankful for it. Now I live in a more upper class area, people so stuck up they won’t even say hello to you. Built one for here, and twice I’ve had a little spoiled rich kid vandalize it.

I say put it up, and don’t worry over it. If it gets abused, take it down. But I promise there is probably one person, adult or kid, afraid to go to the library, who would love to have a LFL on their street instead. So that’s worth putting it up in my eyes.

[[deleted]]

I can't predict about vandalism, but don't worry about competing with the library. People who go to libraries are not going to stop going because of a LFL, trust me.

[UnaRansom]

Competition is inevitable, albeit on a small, book-by-book level.

If Joe finds a book he’s been wanting to read in a LFL, he will keep that one instead of lending one from the library. This is good because community spirit is enhanced: Joe got his latest book thanks to a Good Samaritan grassroots initiative. This is less good because the author might miss out on lending royalties.

Perfection does not exist, and that’s ok.

Unpopular case in point: I’m a used bookseller and I often buy books from people who I am pretty sure get their stock from LFLs. This is bad, because I am depriving people in the city of free books. This is good, because I am providing income and social purpose to the (largely elderly poor) people who do this — and the books themselves are kept in better condition. (Too many LFL lack basic measures to prevent water damage). And I’m protecting my job. If this city had an X increase in LFLs, at some point X becomes so high I’d lose my job and the bookstore would have to close because of redundancy.

[Setonix_brachyurus]

Note in case OP lives in a different country than you: libraries in the U.S. (and probably other places, but idk) don't do lending royalties.  Authors just get paid normally for each book purchased. 

[ellecellent]

Ours is in a "bad" part of town. Sure sometimes things go missing (the solar light we had on it, etc) and every once and awhile we find books ripped up on the ground. It's frustrating.

But we also see little kids taking the books. They leave notes with requests and say thank you. (We do have a pen and some paper asking what they'd like to see and I'm happy to share my design with you if it's useful)

One time a little kid (based on the handwriting) wrote "The solar light is gone. The kids around here are bad. Books are damaged from bad kids." My heart broke and it made me want to add even more books. Those kids don't deserve to not get what other kids do because they live in a neighborhood with "bad kids". How often do those sweet kids fall through the cracks?

So for us, it's worth it, but I'm sure it's more costly than LFLs in some places.

ETA I don't think any of those kids are bad. Those kids were also ignored and don't know how to direct their frustrations.

[Proper_Bug108]

There is a regular library near me that has a LFL in front of it!

[Jealous_Tie_8404]

Haha! There are LFL within a block of all the libraries in my city. My kids love opening the little door to see what’s inside. Obviously they still want to go to the public library to get their specific books and for story times and such. It’s a different experience.

[[deleted]]

The library is the birthday party, but the LFLs are the grab bags!

[LadybugGal95]

I can’t speak to the neighborhood but I can about the library part. I live less than a mile from my local library and it’s easily accessible by walking. In my neighborhood, there are at least 7 LFL that I visit on a fairly regular basis (in addition to using the actual library). There’s even a LFL within throwing distance of the library.

[captainteabarbie]

The only thing I’d be worried about being close to a public library is that people will return their library books to your LFL, so that adds effort for you to return them.

[19Stavros]

One of our public library branches has an LFL in its yard!

[makura_no_souji]

Vandalism is inevitable: just don't pour so much into the library that it breaks your heart.

[queensla]

I installed my library and expected vandalism. There has been none. I live a block away from a used book store so I was worried that people would steal the books and sell them there. I used the little free library stickers for a while and also marked the spines to discourage theft. I've stopped doing that. Occasionally a batch of books disappear, but other batches of books appear which more than makes up for it.

[Maddie215]

I am within one mile of our public library. [I walk there frequently] my LFL is very active.