Reused and Certified

6/25/15 Inks, colored pencils

I’ve been sketching Little Free Libraries in my neighborhood as I happen upon them. Last year when the weather went bad, I started keeping a list with the intention of sketching them eventually, and I have several more to sketch from that list. I am now also using the LFL map online to seek them out when I know I will be in a specific area.

That’s how I found out about the one I sketched this morning. After a brief business meeting in Shoreline, I cruised through the neighborhood to look for this one, which was very clearly made entirely of reused materials. The peak of the roof was lined with the tops of aluminum cans now nicely rusted with a patina. The tall, narrow library had many odd-shaped pieces, some of which stuck out from the front and back like bird perches. The weathered siding was unpainted. The hinges, knob and lock all showed a lot of living.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this library was the Certified Wildlife Habitat sign on its post. I didn’t know what that meant, so I took down the web address noted on the sign and looked it up later. It’s the National Wildlife Foundation’s certification program to help people “create a garden that attracts beautiful wildlife and helps restore habitat in commercial and residential areas.” Behind the library was a fenced garden with trees and plantings that looked carefully selected but also wild – the kind that probably attract birds, bees and butterflies. I had no idea such a certification existed! But that’s what libraries are for, even Little ones – to learn something new.