r/LittleFreeLibrary • u/DiscoLemonade75 • 22h ago

LFL Pictures 📸 New steward

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Hi fellow, LFL'ers. I have always wanted to care for a LFL. I finally have my own home (very late in life) and while on surgery leave the past two weeks, I color matched my house (best I could), painted my little library and got it put up last Saturday. This was the same day as a massive neighborhood festival we have, yearly. People brought books for the inaugural opening and I was just so happy to get it done. It is now 4 days later and not a soul has visited. I was honestly surprised no one used it on our porch fest day. Is this normal? I was worried about keeping up with stocking it but everything is right where I left it on Saturday. We also had our first storms last night and today, fingers crossed she remains dry.

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4

u/dalenakitty 21h ago

Maybe you could post about it on next door? It could help spread the news about it.

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u/DiscoLemonade75 21h ago

That's a wonderful idea! We also have a little neighborhood Facebook group I could post to. Thanks for the fantastic ideas, experiences and thoughts everyone!

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u/jordanspn 22h ago

I don’t have an LFL but I put out a shelf with Halloween activities on it in October to get my neighborhood in the spirit of things. The past few days have been slow because most of my walking traffic is to and from a school, which has been out Saturday-Monday. Could it be something like that? And maybe people were looking forward to the festival so much that they didn’t think to stop at a library/didn’t want to carry things around with them? I wouldn’t get too discouraged yet!

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u/DiscoLemonade75 22h ago

Thank you for your feedback! I hadn't thought about not wanting to carry things around and the focus being on the actual event and musicians playing!! I love what you do for your community, how fun!

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u/jordanspn 11h ago

Thanks! I love that your library matches your house, it’s so cute

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u/Ernie_Munger 21h ago

I've had my LFL up for about a year now, and it's definitely feast-or-famine most of the time. I've come to think of this as normal. Most of the "activity" seems to happen on the weekend when more people are out and about. I've found it can be useful to keep some "overstock" in your house in case you have a busy weekend with a lot of visitors. I've also learned that, at least in my area, I have to take the books inside at night, or someone comes along and cleans the whole thing out. Enjoy!

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u/Alpacaliondingo 9h ago

I dont know what region you live in but i find the most action is when the weather is nice. In the summer it's hard to keep the library stocked while through the fall and winter there isnt much action because the weather is crap and people dont want to be outside for long. Also give it time, especially if you live on a quieter street.

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u/DiscoLemonade75 3h ago

Thanks everyone for the kind and helpful feedback and guidance! ✨

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u/Suspicious_Boat923 2h ago

This happened to me when I first put my LFL up, It took a few weeks.
I think people see it and think they will come back when they have something to contribute. So it takes a bit for them to remember and have time to come back.
I’ve had a ton of neighbors thank me and ask how it works.