Ready to go to the library again?

So, you can’t sit in a restaurant. You can’t go to the movies.  You can’t even go to the library.

Or can you?  Are you ready to browse again?  It’s true that we cannot browse the aisles at our Timberland libraries (but we may search for and request books at trl.org).

Did you know that there are some 50 little libraries around here that are open and waiting for you? And you don’t need a library card to borrow a book. Most are freely open 24/7 – and nobody will tell you or your kids to pipe down as you scan the shelves!

They are the li’l libraries – a mix of official, serial-numbered Little Free Library locations and individualistic unaffiliated structures, most unnamed.  They’re all somewhere between four and seven feet tall, and most offer some level of access to people with mobility impairments or who use wheelchairs. 

In honor of Dewey Decimal System Day, The JOLT introduces its:

Library Guide

We've cataloged and mapped many of 'em for you, so you can get out of the house and do social-distance field trips to as many as you'd like. Because the Governor hasn’t specifically excluded these from the list of no-nos these days, you can think of them as Essential Places!

Speaking of freedom, many new visitors to li’l libraries will be pleased that, so far, none of them in Thurston County will bog you down by making you use the Dewey Decimal System to search.  With an average of about four linear feet of shelf space each, you should expect a little chaos. Cookbooks next to novels! Histories next to biographies! Nature aside science fiction! Picture books next to references!

As you stroll through the Library Guide, consider:

• How many offer a place to sit?
• How many offer courtesy hand sanitizer for use while browsing?
• Which one(s) has its own website or Facebook account?
• How many focus on books for children?
• Are there any with four shelves?

The Library Guide is a work in progress.  Some listings are partly developed as we wait for more information.  So far all listings provide address and map information and at least one photograph.

We're asking for your help in locating those we haven't found yet. 

So far we’ve photographed and built maps to 27 li’l libraries – some in each city, mostly in Olympia, and especially in its Eastside and South areas. We need your help finding those we’ve missed, especially in Lacey and Tumwater. Of course we’d welcome and include those in Rochester, Yelm and parts in between.  

The world is big enough to allow for both the larger institutional systems as well as the smaller grass-roots ungoverned bodies.

Please consider:

1. Where are others we haven’t cataloged?
2. Are there any that specialize in books in Spanish?
3. How else might our Library Guide be helpful?

To tell us about li'l libraries you've found, please use the "Contribute your news" button at the top right of this page -- and we'll get back to you ASAP.

Enjoy the Library Guide.