Short Stuff: Alternative Libraries | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. Hey and welcome to the short stuff. I'm. Josh and there's Chuck and we're sitting. in for Dave today and this is short. stuff. That's right. And we are here. today to talk about this is sort of a. two-parter in one uh about I'm just. calling this alt libraries as in. alternative libraries. Sure. Uh one. reason is because I was on a walk the. other day and we have quite a few little. free libraries in our neighborhood and. they are all super cute. If you don't. know what we're talking about, um.

they're um little little boxes usually. in the shape of a a house or it could be. a dog house or it could be a literal. library or schoolhouse, just some sort. of small housey type structure with a. little clear door. And inside are books. that you can take a book, you can take a. couple of books, you can leave a book, and it's just one of the great things. And I grabbed one. I usually don't even. look at them that much because I just. have too many books I'm behind on. already. But I one popped up in my eye. uh peripheral vision that would be.

perfect for Ruby. So I grabbed it and. she's reading it and loving it. And so I. thought we should do a little ode to alt. libraries like this. What's What was the. book? Uh I can't remember. The the last. kids on earth or something like that. Oh, that sounds good. That may not be. the title, but that's sort of the. premise. Is she she might be too old for. this, but maybe not. Um, has she ever. read any of the scary stories to tell in. the dark books? Uh, I don't think. And. it is actually called The Last Kids on.

Earth. It looks like it's a series. Um, no. Uh, that's that sounds like. something right up her alley, though. Okay. Go to eBay and find whatever. editions came out in the 80s. Okay. um because they have some of the. greatest um illustrations ever that made. everything so much more unsettling. You. have to get those watercolor. illustrations or else don't even bother. I'm looking at them now and they are. terrifying. They are. It's so great. I.

remember being a kid and just being like. this is this is so great. I feel so. alive. Thanks for the wreck. Yeah, there's also more scary stories to tell. in the dark pretty much equally good. Uh, so maybe we should flip it and start. with Little Free Libraries since I. mentioned that one first as insp. But in. 29, how the story goes, and this is. straight from their website. Uh, a man. named Todd B from Wisconsin, Hudson, Wisconsin, um, started it all when he. built a little model of a of a. schoolhouse of a little one room. schoolhouse as a tribute to his mom who. was a teacher. Put it on a post, put.

some books in it, and said, "Hey, everyone, if you want a book, take one. If you want to drop one off, that'd be. great, too." And it was a big hit. It it was a huge hit actually. So. apparently Andrew Carnegie funded um I. believe. 2500 plus for some reason everybody says. 258. So I'm guessing that's the number. um public libraries around the turn of. last century or early last century. Um. and there's still plenty around um that.

he essentially partnered with whatever. local government and said I'll give you. a bunch of money or I'll throw in half. or something like that. And that was one. of the big pieces of philanthropy he was. known for. So, um, I guess Todd Bowl and. Rick Brooks said, "Let's try to see if. we can make. 258 of these things by the end of 2013, uh, which is a couple years after they. started." And they just blew that goal. out of the water. Yeah. Uh, Rich Brooks. was the guy, like you said, he partnered. with. Um, he actually retired from the.

which is now an NGO in 2014. Mhm. Uh but. he, you know, they were pals and he. thought it was a great idea and again. inspired by Carnegie, they they set out. to start building these. Uh by 2010, so. in 29 is when the first one was built. Uh by 2010 it was like an established. thing that was happening. Um they. started to give them away. They had. charter signs if it was an official one. uh engraved with a charter number and it.

just people were into it and they. started, you know, you see one of these. things in your neighborhood. I remember. when I saw the first one, I was like, "Wow, that's an incredible idea." And it. felt like within that year, we had like. six or seven more. Yeah. I I remember. the first time I saw one, I didn't get. the concept. So, I kind of I saw a book. that I wanted and uh so I looked around. to make sure no one was looking and put. it in my jacket and ran off really. quick. I thought you said you got you. got a bunch of books and you sold them. on eBay. No, I just took one and sold it.

on eBay. Yeah. eventually. But I said that um. when they started, they wanted to make. 258. um of these things within a couple of. years. They ended up surpassing that. with a year and a half left before their. goal date. And they just kept going from. there. Apparently, Chuck, here's some. mind-boggling numbers for you. So, they. started in 2009. In 2022, there were. more than 150,000 little free libraries.

across the world. than 120 different. countries. Yeah, I did not know it had. gone international until I started doing. this research. Uh it's just incredible. Uh like I said, Brooks retired in. 2014. Um someone actually wrote in 2015. A woman named Margaret uh oh she's a. pretty famous author actually. Margaret. Aldrich um wrote the little free library. book. Uh so all of a sudden it's like. launching books in in and of itself, right? Um they got in 2014 uh that same.

year the Library of Congress literacy. award. Um just like people are lauding. it. People are building these things. like crazy and it it's just become one. of the cool things uh that the you know. started here in the US and then spread. all over the place. Um very sadly uh in. 2018 Todd Bowl passed away from p. pancreatic cancer um after the launch of. their 75,000th at the time little free. library and uh he was working for them. up until the end and has a great quote.

uh I really believe in a little free. library on every block and a book in. every hand. I believe people can fix. their neighborhoods, fix their. communities, develop systems of sharing, learn from each other and see that they. have a better place in this planet to. live. Very sweet. That is a great last. interview quote. Yeah, pretty awesome. All right. Well, let's take a break and. we'll come back and talk about a. different kind of alt library after. this. Think of all the stuff. There's so. much stuff. Look at all the stuff. Shut.

up. [Music]. [Music]. Okay, Chuck. So, we already talked about. Little Free Libraries, which anybody can. make. And if you want some tips, like we. said, go check out the Little Free.

Library book. Yeah. If you saw that in a. little free library, wouldn't the. universe just collapse in on itself? Yeah. You can also donate to them, of. course. Yeah. It's it's that kind of. give a book, take a book thing. I don't. know if we spelled it out or if we. needed to, but that's the premise of it, right? Yeah. Another thing was called. the human library. And this was the. result of a couple of who I take to be. artists, brothers Ronnie Abberel and. Danny Abberel. Yeah. Have to um and they. Yeah, they for a festival in Denmark. Uh.

about the year 2000, they created the. human library in uh Danish they call it. Menesque Bibliotech, but all one word. Yeah. Bibliotech is. that's in a lot of languages, right? Sure. But you add the e t to the end and. you got Danish. That's right. So what they what they created with this. human library was the concept that um. the books or were human beings and they.

were human beings that people might want. to get information from. So there were. human beings who were typically um. looked down upon, mistreated, uh had. different experiences from the. mainstream. So, you had like books that. were trans people, unhoused people, um. people from different races, uh and you. can check out one of these books, this. human book, and hang out with them and. ask them whatever question you want, and. then you take them back and check out. another one. Yeah, it's it's sort of. part performance art, part TED talk in a.

way. Uh just kind of referring to them. as books is was the hook, I think. Um. and obviously something to you know draw. attention to their cause which is very. noble I think. Uh it started out as a. small festival and I think it ran 8. hours a day for over 4 days initially. with 50 human books available and now it. is an international thing. They have. human libraries uh in Asia, Africa, Australia uh both of the Americas and.

Europe. Yeah. I thought this was kind of. cute too. So if you're a volunteer as a. book Yeah. Um you go through a vetting. process and then they teach you how to. do this and they call that getting. published. Yeah, that's pretty fun. And. then once you're published, you can be. checked out. Yeah. Um and the rules for. readers are that you respect the book, be curious, bring the book back on time. and in the same condition. I'm keeping. this book. If you if you read between. the lines, I think bring it back in the.

same condition means that they don't. want any pages stuck together with a. booger. Right. [Laughter]. Yeah. Don't make your book do your. dishes. Don't don't put your book to. work. That's not what this is about. Well, luckily the book can end the loan. anytime they want. Like if things go. pear-shaped Yeah. they can be like, I'm. taking myself back to the library. Yeah. Just stamp my forehead so I can leave. Right. They also have mobile libraries. called book depots. The headquarters for. this that um it just carried on for the. last couple decades. It's headquartered.

in Copenhogen, but they have mobile. libraries and I guess they just go round. up the books and they're like, "Sorry, you're you're published. You're coming. with us on the road for a little while.". Yeah. They you can also uh like book a. group of books or or you know check out. a group of books at one time. Um like a. company can do this and companies have. done this. They'll you know it's. something that companies do. They'll. bring in like guest speakers and stuff. and in this case they're doing it in the. form of human books. They'll bring in a. few different people uh to bring in to.

talk about, you know, uh things that. again sort of like an individual would. like, hey, let's bring in some people. that maybe don't even work in our field, but might enlighten you to some uh. diverse topics and and and people and. and ways of thinking. Um so like. Microsoft and Eli Liy and other brands. have gotten together to to kind of do. this over the years. Yes. And I think. invariably at all of those events. there's at least one person who raises. their hand and says, "So wait, this is. just Q&A." Right. Like I don't get it.

What's the library thing? I don't Yeah, I'm totally confused. Yeah. And they. probably don't get very much out of the. experience. Exactly. Those people never. do. But yeah, it's just sort of a fun. hook. Uh I like stuff like this. Some. people might say it's silly. Oh, they're. not books, they're just people and it's. just a Q&A. But, um, I encourage people. like that to sort of broaden their. horizons, think outside the old box a. little bit and and CTF. Yeah. Just make. sure that the person you're dragging off. um to be checked out is a published book.

and not just some rando No, you don't. want to do that. Hey, you're coming with. me. That's called kid that's called. kidnapping, right? Uh, you got anything. else? I got nothing else. Support Little. Free Library. support the human book. project and support all libraries too. Yeah, those are great. Also, uh short. stuff is out. Stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts, iHeart. Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple. Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your.

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