Maintaining Macon’s network of little libraries takes care and community

Frank Broome said he’s always had the “tinkering” gene. The 70-year-old has long dabbled in woodworking and saw an opportunity to use his skills to fix up something right down the street from his home. 

His latest project was unveiled at Tattnall Square Park in Macon Friday morning, a new community bookshelf.

The white, doghouse-sized bookcase is roofed with light brown wooden shingles that form a gable. A glass door with a magnetic latch opens up to a shelf decorated with colorful children’s handprints.

Boxes like the one Broome built are part of the Little Free Libraries program in Macon, where community members can take books to read and contribute their own volumes.

“I think they’re a conversation starter,” Mercer English professor Thomas Bullington said. “They’re a way for people to get involved and get connected to their communities.”

There are over 150,000 Free Little Libraries in the world, but Macon’s network was established by Mercer professor Jen Look in 2014. Look left Mercer in 2015, and many of the libraries fell into disrepair until Bullington came along.

Right before the pandemic in 2020, Bullington taught his first service learning course based around monitoring and curating the Little Free Libraries of Macon.

Students keep records of book conditions and which books were being checked out and added. They can add books that match the preferences based on what community members have historically checked out.

“Part of it is to get students to see that books aren’t just a matter of content,” Bullington said. “It’s kind of like a librarianship.”

Bullington said students helped fix up the Free Little Library outside Society Garden and plan to work on the one next to the Macon Dog Park.

However, the biggest hurdle for the library’s curators is keeping in touch with the original stewards. The organization behind Little Free Libraries has an online map with locations and contact information.

New libraries have to be registered to appear on the map, but not all of the Little Free Libraries in Macon are registered. Registration also allows people to get in touch about their bookshelves and “keep an eye on things,” Bullington said.

“It’s a feedback loop, and we’re trying to make it a positive feedback loop,” he said.

The original library in Tattnall Square Park was “decaying,” Broome said. The post and braces forming the base of the house for books were part of the original, but he updated the other features to get it looking new again.

The cedar and treated plywood along with several layers of paint should stave off rot, he said.

Broome didn’t complete the new library all by himself. He said he and a neighbor donated the expensive shingles and his son helped cut materials.

Mercer University students will fill out the little library with books later this week.