By the book: Pocahontas residents build Little Free Library to share with community

Doris Dace didn't have a library in her community, so she built her own.

It houses a variety of materials and genres, it's open 24/7, and users don't even need a library card.

It's a Little Free Library, and it's part of a growing movement to build small, free-standing bookshelves in communities, where residents are encouraged to "Take a book. Return a book."

The first Little Free Library was started in 2009 in Hudson, Wisconsin, and there are now more than 25,000 libraries worldwide, according to www.littlefreelibrary.org.

Doris Dace demonstrates the Little Free Library in Pocahontas, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

"I had seen (Little Free Libraries) and read about them, so I vaguely knew the concept," Dace says. "One day I was thinking, 'Gee, we need a library in Pocahontas,' but it's such a tiny little burg, I knew that was not going to happen -- but I remembered the Little Free Library concept."

Cutline-File Credit:Becky LaClair, left, and Doris Dace show the Little Free Library in Pocahontas, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

Dace mentioned the idea to her friend Becky LaClair, head of the post office in Pocahontas, and the two thought it would be a great addition to their community. The closest library to Pocahontas is in Jackson, about 10 miles away, and the closest Little Free Libraries were in Farmington, Poplar Bluff and Kennett, Missouri.

"Doris was a big magazine collector and she wanted to help other people get ahold of magazines," LaClair says. "We were locally swapping between businesses anyway -- we had a buildup of books and magazines and we were running out of room."

They chose a spot for their Little Free Library, cleared it with the city, and visited www.littlefreelibrary.org to learn how to register their library.

"Down in our little hub of Pocahontas, we have the mill and the Pie Safe and the post office, and then that's where children are dropped off from the school bus and walk to their various houses in town," Dace says. "I thought that would be a good place where people who read could stop there or pull in, go to the library and take out a book."

LaClair's husband, Seth, and father, Martin Neumann, helped build the library, and Dustin Richardson of Richardson Construction added a roof. Dace painted it, Monte Penrod dug the hole, and Dace and her husband, Jim, set the pole and mounted the box. All construction materials for the box were donated, and the Daces donated the library registration fee in memory of their friend, Pamela Brakhage, who loved to read.

"A lot of hands went into it," Dace says.

At about 15 inches wide, the Little Free Library is large enough to hold several books and magazines that are free for taking, borrowing or swapping.

"The magazines are going well and the teenage girl books are rotating through pretty well. The little kid books are (popular), too," says LaClair, adding that she sees children rifle through the library most mornings while they wait for the school bus.

For Dace, a retired schoolteacher, half the fun of the Little Free Library is in sharing her love of books and reading.

"I just like encouraging people to read," she says. "I think it's such a good thing to do, and it's particularly good for children. I want to be able to foster a love of reading in children."

The Little Free Library is seen in Pocahontas, Missouri. (Fred Lynch)

LaClair says Little Free Libraries are a good thing for people who can't afford to buy books, or for those who can't get up and drive to a bricks-and-mortar library each time they want something new to read.

"If you have a neighborhood with a lot of kids, I would encourage others to consider" building a library, LaClair says.

"I have every intention of putting one in my own neighborhood on my street," she adds. "It doesn't have to be fancy, and it doesn't have to be anything hard to build."