City Takes Down Book Exchange

Where to plant a Little Free Library, or book exchange?


If you plan to plant it on your property, make sure it is on your property, not on city or municipal property.   Today I saw a book exchange, being taken down, by workers employed by the City of Burlington (Bailey's Books on Inverary Road, in Burlington) the crew was removing tree stumps along the boulevard. The book exchange was attached to a tree stump, the city was planning to remove. If you want to install a Little Free Library on city property, get the city's permission. If you want to plant a library in a community centre, get the community centre's permission, or city park's permission.

I really have to wonder WHY a crew would take down a book exchange that benefits the community! At least they placed it on the steward's grass, over putting it into the wood chipper!

UPDATE: Steward was able to save Bailey's Books library, and replant it on the homeowners side of the sidewalk.

When installing a Little Free Library make sure your library does not interfere with snow removal, of both sidewalks and roads. Think of where the snow will end up during snow plowing. Make sure your library does not interfere with sight lines, especially if you have a corner lot. Think of where drivers need to see, when turning corners.

When planning where to put a Little Free Library look at your local guidelines, and bylaws.
City of Burlington:
All decorative items near sidewalks and curbs should be placed flat on the ground and a minimum of 30 cm (12 inches) away from the edge of the curb or sidewalk.  This will help reduce the chance of damage to property or snow removal equipment and injury to operators.  The city is not responsible for damage to decorative items located within the road allowance.

List of Little Free Libraries and book exchanges in Burlington, Ontario.

If you plan to put your book exchange on a deeply planted post Call Before You Dig to make sure you don't harm underground infrastructure.

There are a number of ways to have a book exchanges not implanted into the ground.

I recommend putting your Little Free Library between the sidewalk (if you have one) and the house. People may feel shy, if you put it too close to the house.