The hallways are buzzing with chatter referring to the TV from the night before, one kid breaks away from the group. He stands near the birdhouses, sets his bag down, and he places a book inside the house and in turn takes one out. This is the magic that is brought to the freshmen center by Little Free Library. A community project set up by Eagle Scout Troop 584 and the librarian Natalie Tuttle.

“The Eagle Scout troop has been planning the Little Free library Project for a year, and they have finally set up them up,” said Tuttle.

The Little Free Library is a project that began in 2009 by Todd Bol in Hudson, Wis. It started out with him building a model of a one room schoolhouse. In the house, he put some books and a sign saying, ‘free books.’ This project strongly believes in, ‘take a book leave a book.’ This means that when one takes a book they can either leave a book in its place or just return the book once they have finished.

“I am really glad that the birdhouses are in the teacher’s lounge and the freshmen center because they  [teachers and freshmen] never really have the time to go to the actual library,” says Tuttle.

The reason that they are set up in the freshmen center is because they are disconnected from the rest of the campus. Freshmen stay in the freshmen center all day and they never really have the time to come down to the library. These birdhouses grant them the accessibility to a small library.  

“This also helps a community grow, because they have to trust in one another, that they will not just take a book and keep it,” said Tuttle.

There are also birdhouses in the teacher’s lounge because, like the freshmen, they do not always have the time to go the library to check out a book. This also gives them things to talk about and form bonds over, allowing them to become friends, not just co-workers.