A one-man public library
From the New York Daily News: The house on Balagtas St.: a one-man public library in Manila, Philippines.
It’s the complete interior of a bookstore, turned inside out. In Manila, the capital city of the Philippines, you’ll find the young, old and everyone in between flocking to the Reading Club 2000, a public library operated by a quirky local from his childhood home.
Hernando Guanlao, who is known by the nickname Nanie, works from the idea that
there are no rules.Anyone is free to come back and get a book to read, and keep it as long as they like. And if they want, they can even keep it permanently. [continue]
By now you know that I love stories like this, and wish we had such a library on Gabriola.
I can donate books I’ve read to GIRO, to the Gabe Shop, or to Friends of the Library. That’s great in terms of making space on my bookshelf and perhaps finding people who might read the books I donate. But all of those organizations will sell the books I give them, and I’d rather that my books be free. Also: a library without rules, due dates, fines, or computers to keep track of patrons – how cool is that?
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Filed in assorted 4 Comments so far
4 Responses to “A one-man public library”
elen on 24 Sep 2012 at 11:05 am #
I love this one – Have you seen it? http://news.yourolivebranch.org/2012/06/28/colombia-has-100-tiny-libraries-in-public-parks/
Gabriolan on 24 Sep 2012 at 9:27 pm #
elen – I hadn’t heard of that – thanks. Extremely cool!
Sharon on 03 Oct 2012 at 11:09 am #
Good post. Thanks.
I periodically leave a book in a public place (eg ferry, coffee shop) with a little note inside saying “This one’s for you. Enjoy!”. I think I’ll start doing that more often.
Gabriolan on 03 Oct 2012 at 12:29 pm #
Sharon – that’s a lovely plan. Do you know about bookcrossing.com? It gives you a way to track those books, if you want. (And if the finder wants to report the book.)