Free mobile neighborhood library

The Little Free Library on St. Marks Avenue in Prospect Heights aroused the curiosity of Elinor and Evan Bither.

By ERIC P. NEWCOMER

Here's a cute idea, especially with bookstores and libraries being inundated with unwanted books these days. Give them away to neighborhoods for use as book-swaps. Using the 'Leave a book, take a book' process, people swap out books at hundreds of neighborhood book boxes built by volunteers.

According to this article, the box's housing was provided by the National Little Free Library organization, which estimates that there are 2,200 such places, across almost every state and about 30 countries. Each local library pays $25 to register with the group. About 20 percent buy the wood box from the national organization, which can cost a few hundred dollars. The rest, using materials like canoes or ovens, make them for themselves.

Another man is filling New York City phone booths with mobile libraries. Read his story here:

Christopher Gregory/The New York Times