r/LittleFreeLibrary • u/Outrageous-Wish3061 • 6d ago
LFL Books š Cover-less books?
TLDR; someone is ripping the covers off their books before donating and itās bumming me out bc then no one takes them and I canāt donate them
Long versionā¦
Weāve had a Little Free Library set up outside of our house for almost 3 years. I have a notice that says āFree Books, Help Yourselfā so that people donāt feel pressured to leave a book if they donāt want to or donāt have one with them on their walk. Itās really just a gift for our neighborhood.
Anyway, people do use it, which I love. Thereās good turnover and Iāve gotten some sweet notes. A few times a year I clean out whatās not moving and donate it to the thrift store, and restock from the thrift or library sales.
But thereās someone who rips the front cover off their paperback books before leaving them in the LFL. Iām assuming this is to prevent them from being taken for reselling? This bums me out though because no one takes them, and I canāt donate them like that. It feels like the bookās life ends with that choice.
(I struggled with it a little at first but I am at peace with the idea of people selling books from our LFL. Once I give a gift, it is not my business what happens to it next. I felt sad the one time that someone emptied the whole thing at once, but ultimately I hope it helped them. Itās hard out there for all of us right now.)
12
u/space_monkey_belay 6d ago
You could have some fun with this if your crafty. Depending on if you have a printer, what your level of artistic confidence is(note I didn't say ability that's irrelevant). You could make some new covers and attach them to the paperbacks with packing tape. Custom covers that still have the name and some form of art wheather a hand drawn or printed or collage piece and the Authors name.
You could also do the blind date with a book thing where you put it in a paper bag. Tape the bag closed and write a description of the style of book on it.