JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – You may have seen them all over the city, especially if you love to read.
A Jacksonville man added a “Little Free Library” to his neighborhood.
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People in the Woodland Acres neighborhood, specifically on the 7600 block of Eaton Avenue just off Arlington Road, will see the newest little free library.
Fred Rodolf built it himself.
“This was fun, Rodolf said. ”It was quick. I think it adds to the neighborhood."
There are a few dozen books inside. It is a chance for people to grab a book and read it for free. However, they are encouraged to leave a book behind for someone else to pick up.
Plenty of free little libraries are spread out all over Jacksonville, but what Rodolf built is the only one in his neighborhood.
“[Woodland Acres] is coming up and getting better,” Rodolf said, who moved to Jacksonville in 2015 from the Seattle area. “The Boys and Girls Club is right there. It is more active than it used to be. I figured that this would help improve the overall neighborhood.”
It took Rodolf, who is a merchant mariner by profession, two days to build the portable library.
The idea was sparked by his friend Katherine, who notices them around town all the time and feels they create a sense of community.
“[Fred] likes to help people a lot,” Katherine said. “He is always trying to find ways to help people, and he also likes to build things.”
“Reading is important,” Rodolf said. “Everyone is online reading two and three sentences of something that isn’t important. While books can be fun and full of anything you want, I hope people realize that this is a fun community engagement system. They don’t have to read the books, but getting one and flipping through it is physically something real. It is different from your phone and it can just be an enjoyable experience.”
There is a map that shows every chartered Little Free Library in Jacksonville. There are almost 50 of them.
MAP: littlefreelibrary.org/map/
Rodolf says he expects to get his charter within the next week so that it will appear on the map.
