We asked Canton City Clerk Susan Stanton to tell us what motivated her to create a Little Free Library just inside the front door at Canton City Hall at 151 Elizabeth St.
“After reading several articles about Little Free Libraries, I decided to build one and Canton City Hall seemed like the place for it because there’s a lot of foot traffic there. The library has an eclectic adult collection and plenty of children’s books.”
Stanton constructed the library out of two bread boxes, “one for adult books and one on a lower shelf for kids books. All I had to do was build the frame. There seems to be pretty good use of it because I’m always replenishing books. It’s supposed to be take one, return one, but if people take one and read it, I really don’t care if they bring one back. I also keep an eye on the library to make sure that no inappropriate books are put in it. I always have a few boxes of books at home and a couple at city hall which are stocked from the Friends of the Library book sales.
“My objective is just to encourage reading. Reading increases vocabulary, inspires new thinking, takes us places we’ve never been, and generally expands our horizons. There’s no downside. So just read.”
I have lots of books. Do you take donations?