Library Love

Loved the article by Erika Janik [“It’s a Mailbox … It’s a Bird House … No, Wait, It’s a Library,” Winter 2012]. Those who fill the unique Little Free Library boxes around the world may be motivated by the words of William A. Wood: “Who gives a good book gives more than cloth, paper, and ink … more than leather, parchment, and words. He reveals a foreword of his thoughts, a dedication of his friendship, a page of his presence, a chapter of himself, and an index of his love.”

Thayer (Ted) Thompson ’60 Sedalia, Missouri

The article about the Little Free Libraries is really informative, interesting, and inspiring. I have read stories in the local media about Little Free Libraries popping up in the Twin Cities. This summer I saw one in Berlin, Germany, housed in an old phone booth. It’s interesting to know that this movement had its start in Madison, where I got my master’s degree in library science. After reading your article, I felt inspired and would like to see one in Woodbury, where I live now. I want to help build a better neighborhood and a better community.

Qin Tang MA’94 Woodbury, Minnesota

I just finished reading the Winter 2012 issue, and I was moved by the challenge to put up a Little Free Library in the Philippines in Barangay del Carmen, Iligan City, where my youngest son lives. When I went to UW–Madison in 1964 for my MS program in rural sociology, I was a Filipino Fulbright-Hays scholar and a U.S. Agricultural Development Council fellow. Now I reside in Juneau, Alaska, but I know I can collect some books here in Juneau and ship them or bring them whenever I go there for a vacation. My son can manage the project.

Eulalio “Loy” Maturan MS’66 Juneau, Alaska

Published in the Spring 2013 issue