Hamtown’s movers and shakers …
Kim Kozlowski introduces her project called Detroit Little Libraries at a recent gathering of the Hamtramck SOUP organization. Her group plans to set up boxes filled with books in town in which passersby can take a book to read for free.
By Mike Murphy
Special to The Review
Recently, Kim Kozlowski, the founder of Detroit Little Libraries, received a helping hand for her project in the form of a $700 donation from the Hamtramck SOUP organization.
Little Libraries is a grassroots group partnering with the national Little Free Library to promote reading, community and neighborhood pride in Detroit by installing Little Free Libraries around the community.
She is also the higher education reporter at The Detroit News. The Review recently interviewed Kozlowski about her project.
Could you describe the Detroit Little Libraries campaign?
Kozlowski: It is a grassroots campaign that is working to install libraries that are catalysts for free book exchanges, and community interaction.
Though there are 30,000 of these little libraries around the globe, few were in Detroit until September 2014 when our campaign began to make Detroit the Little Free Library capital, with the most libraries per capita in a major city.
In less than a year, we have installed dozens of Little Free Libraries throughout Detroit in front of individual homes, nonprofit organizations, faith-based institutions, small businesses, community farms and gardens, health care centers and city parks.
As a result, we have distributed thousands of books in the community.
What does a little library look like and how does it work?
Kozlowski: A Little Free Library is a container about the size of a doll house that is placed outside someone’s house, or in a public space such as a park. It is filled with books that anyone can take, read and keep. Patrons are encouraged to return a book for someone else in the community. Stewards in the neighborhoods take care of the little library, and often evolve into ambassadors for community involvement
How and when did Detroit Little Libraries get its start?
Kozlowski: It began after we saw a Little Free Library in Ferndale. We put up one in front of our own house and it caused a sensation in the neighborhood. On September 12, I launched a crowdfunding campaign on my birthday to raise money to put up little libraries in Detroit, and word has continued to spread.
Who is involved in the project?
Kozlowski: We’ve created partnerships with Detroit Rotary, Detroit Kiwanis, Detroit SOUP, Detroit Bikes, the Detroit News and Free Press, Rx for Reading Detroit, Community United for Progress, the Boy Scouts, the Grand River Creative Corridor, First United Methodist Church of Birmingham and hundreds of volunteers — including two Eagle Scouts and two young people who are embracing Detroit Little Libraries for their mitvah project.
We also work with the End Grain Woodworking Co., a woodworking duo who builds many of the little libraries from reclaimed wood salvaged from abandoned Detroit houses.
What are the goals of the project in Hamtramck? In the Detroit area?
Kozlowski: With our presence in Hamtramck and Detroit, we hope to offer books, especially for children. We are always aware of the need to provide books that reflect the diversity of both communities, and work to try and find them to fill the libraries.
How are you raising funds for the project?
Kozlowski: We held a crowd funding campaign on Indigogo; received individual and corporate donations and plan to apply for grants. There are numerous individuals and groups, such as Rotary, that also put up little libraries in the community.
Why do you feel there is a need for little libraries in the Detroit area?
Kozlowski: Books promote reading, which expands vocabulary, imagination and critical thinking. There are numerous physiological and social benefits of reading that impact an individual, their relationships with family, friends and society and ultimately their life trajectory.
Detroit Little Libraries shifts the paradigm of the traditional library by bringing books closer to communities through a relatively inexpensive vehicle that anyone can make.
The libraries also foster a pay-it-forward mentality among neighbors and children.
Perhaps most important of all, the little libraries act as a mini town square for residents to gather around and share stories not only about books they are reading but also stories about their lives.
Never has there been a better time to build little libraries for Detroit, since the city is at a historic moment, climbing out of bankruptcy and poised for a comeback. Citizens also have long struggled with literacy, and many Detroit libraries have limited hours, and some have even shut down.
What do you think the Little Libraries mean to a neighborhood?
Kozlowski: One resident, in the North Rosedale Park neighborhood, summarized it this way: “The little things are really everything when it comes to neighborhoods. It’s something to gather around.”
How can people outside the organization help Little Libraries grow?
Kozlowski: Make a donation. Build a library. Become a steward for a library. Go to our website: http: www.detroitlittlelibraries.org, find a library on the map and fill it will books.
