Little Free Library founder's legacy lives on, one book, one sharing box at a time

They're on street corners and front yards in 91 countries, Laundromats and police stations, hospital waiting rooms and subway stations.

They're in parks, farm fields and refugee settlements. A woman in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, built one out of the stump of a 110-year-old cotton tree in her front yard complete with interior and exterior lighting.

And there's one on Milwaukee's east side that pays tribute to Harry Potter with a wand as a handle.

Little Free Libraries have sprouted like dandelions across the U.S. and the rest of the planet since Todd Bol built the first one 10 years ago in the shape of a schoolhouse out of scrap lumber and installed it at the end of his driveway in Hudson, Wisconsin.

A year after Bol died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 62, his legacy — in the form of boxes filled with free books and other items — continues to mutate and grow. The number of registered Little Free Libraries is now more than 90,000 with countless thousands more unregistered.

He dreamed up a deceptively simple idea that everyone immediately grasps: build a tiny box, decorate it however you wish, fill it with books and smile. In a way, Little Free Libraries have become the water coolers of the 21st century, bringing neighbors and strangers together through book sharing.

When he started building Little Free Libraries for friends and then founded the nonprofit organization in 2012, Bol's dream seemed big. He wanted Little Free Libraries to number one more than the libraries built by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie — 2,510. That number was surpassed within months.

Little Free Library officials estimate the 100,000th will open sometime early next year somewhere in the world.

Bol embodied the adage that one person can make a difference. An estimated 120 million books have passed through hands and minds via Little Free Libraries. His idea spawned a folk art movement through myriad ways people decorate and create their library boxes. 

"Todd really planted seeds of literacy all across the country and around the globe and those seeds are still growing and thriving," said Margret Aldrich, head of media and programming for Hudson-based Little Free Library.

"It's really hard to believe that it has been a year. We certainly miss our dear friend Todd. We're also really proud to be here and continue his legacy," Aldrich said.

This year Bol's brother Tony started Share With Others, a business that promotes and expands front yard sharing through construction and sales of boxes to share books, food, hygiene items, seeds, dog treats, poetry and other things. Share With Others also hosts community-building events.

"We don't get out on our front porches anymore. Everybody is inside with their doors shut. Times have changed," Bol's widow, Susan, said at a Stillwater Front Yard Share Affair and children's book exchange in the Minnesota town just across the St. Croix River from Wisconsin.

"We didn't really plan for it to be a movement. We've always been just delighted and thrilled for people to get out and meet their neighbors," Susan Bol said.

Susan and Todd met in the University of Wisconsin-River Falls cafeteria in 1978 and married in 1984. She has been a speech pathologist at Stillwater High School for 21 years and noticed that the struggling students tend to be weak readers.

"Todd was all about community sharing. He and I were avid readers. He didn't like the idea that some kids have no books at home," said Susan Bol.

On a sunny warm Saturday last month hundreds of children's books were arrayed on tables in Teddy Bear Park in Stillwater, where families turned up for free face paintings of Little Free Libraries and public readings by the author of a book about the origins of the nonprofit, "Little Libraries, Big Heroes."

Kristin Harbulak dropped off half a dozen books her 6-year-old daughter, Cadence, and 8-year-old son, Camden, had read while picking out a Halloween book and a book of Scooby Doo stickers. Harbulak said her children regularly visit two or three Little Free Libraries in Stillwater to find books.

"They draw your attention because they're so adorable. You feel good by leaving a book for someone else to take," said Harbulak.

Tony Bol said his brother was thinking of starting another organization, a for-profit business to advance front yard sharing by making and selling blessing boxes, little free pantries and lending libraries of books and seeds.

"When Todd heard the news that he had pancreatic cancer, he was told he had three years but he had three weeks and that all struck us hard," said Tony Bol, who lost another brother a few months later from heart surgery. 

Share With Others ran into controversy a few weeks ago when the Little Free Library organization filed a trademark infringement notice with Etsy that resulted in the e-commerce site taking down the Share With Others platform it uses to sell front yard exchange boxes. 

In June, Little Free Library amended its 2012 trademark application for the words “Little Free Library” to be used in connection with “wooden boxes with a storage area for books."

Tony Bol said the Bol family believes the phrase Little Free Library is a generic term used by many people and groups. In response, Aldrich said Little Free Library, like any nonprofit, protects its trademarks.

"They would be treated like any for-profit business that tries to make money off Little Free Libraries. But we certainly don't wish (Share With Others) ill will," said Aldrich.

"We agree with that, we respect trademark law," said Tony Bol. "When I worked at Little Free Library, they let everyone use the Little Free Library name. My brother even sent out the Little Free Library plaques to people. He did it through honey more than vinegar."

In 2017, Little Free Library started the Action Book Club that combines reading with community service by encouraging book clubs to read a book and then do something positive in their neighborhoods to spread kindness. There are now more than 1,300 Action Book Clubs with 63,000 members, said Aldrich, ranging from kindergartners reading a picture book and collecting socks for the homeless to adult groups reading books and constructing Little Free Libraries in areas with little access to books.

The nonprofit launched its Impact Library Program in 2016 to provide free neighborhood book-sharing boxes in areas where books are scarce. The program is funded through donations; so far 500 have been given away to applicants, mostly basic Little Free Library models that can be customized by recipients. 

Aldrich said the organization plans to expand the Impact Library Program next year to give away more library boxes.

This year, Little Free Library started the annual Todd H. Bol Award for Outstanding Achievement, given to 10 library stewards who are making a difference in their communities. Among the recipients were stewards in Italy, Sudan and several states, and two in Wisconsin.

Chuck Prihoda, who volunteers with the Taylor County Literacy Council in Medford, was surprised and humbled to be named an award winner. Prihoda helped put a red barn-shaped Little Free Library in front of the Head Start day care center in Medford several years ago. That launched his Little Free Library construction hobby.

Since then Prihoda has designed and built nine Little Free Libraries including a pirate chest in Gilman in honor of the school's mascot, a log cabin at a Rib Lake campground and a dog house at Stetsonville Elementary School.

He's next planning on building one for himself, a domed stadium-shaped Little Free Library because of his love for baseball.

Prihoda attributes the success of Little Free Libraries to their novelty.

"Maybe a little bit is nostalgia because it gives people a chance to meet and communicate one-on-one instead of on a cellphone. I think people enjoy that and this is an excuse to do that," said Prihoda.