As the summer starts and book lovers are looking for a fun activity, one Londoner has compiled a list of little free libraries in and around the city for people to explore.
Little free libraries, which have been seen increasingly in the last few years, involve people making birdhouse-like boxes on their properties and leaving free books inside for people to read.
Little Free Libraries, a non-profit that encourages the little libraries increased access to books, estimates there are over 100,000 little libraries in at least 100 countries around the world.
Although people can register their libraries on the Little Free Libraries website, Lyndsay Dobson-Boyd, a London resident who created a list of all of the ones in London, says many in the community were not registered.
Boyd spent a few weeks compiling a list from places Facebook users sent her, then, with her family, verifying that all of the little libraries still existed.
“My husband and I went out every day with the kids. It was fun for us, too, and it was a scavenger hunt,” she said.
“You open the box up and take a book, you drop off a book, and then some else will go there after you they might see the book you left.”
While exploring all of London’s little libraries, Boyd says she has found some interesting books reminding her of her childhood and also tries to leave something else behind.
She tries to exchange the books to different boxes each time she goes so people find new items each time they visit a box.
“It is very interesting, especially since they are all different, no one is the same.”
She has now created a Facebook page with more than 20 of the little libraries grouped by the neighbourhood and hopes other people can find joy in discovering the libraries.
Boyd says she hopes Londoners will add new locations to the Facebook page, and it might encourage other people to create little libraries of their own.