If you want to start a Little Free Library book exchange, you’re in the right place. We’re excited to have you join the network—now more than 200,000 Little Free Libraries strong! Watch the one-minute video to see how Little Free Libraries work and learn how you can start a little library, too.
We also recommend using the Little Free Library mobile app or web map to find a Little Free Library near you. Stop by and chat with the volunteer steward of that library and ask for their advice as you get started.
How to Get Started
1. Identify a Location & Steward
First decide where you can legally and safely install the library. The location should also have a lot of foot traffic and be highly visible to anyone nearby. Then identify at least one person to be the steward (steward = caretaker). This person promotes the library and makes sure it is clean and inviting.
2. Get a Library
You can build your own Little Free Library following any design you like; find someone locally to build one for you; or purchase a library through Little Free Library’s online store. Libraries purchased through our online store are automatically registered and come with a charter sign included.
3. Register Your Library
Register by purchasing an official charter sign. If you buy a Little Free Library from our online store, it will automatically come registered with a charter sign included. If you build your own book-sharing box, register it by purchasing a charter sign. After you register, you gain access to a network of benefits just for stewards, such as the option to set up your steward account and list your library on the Little Free Library mobile app and web map.
4. Set Up Your Steward Account
After you purchase your Little Free Library or charter sign, you will receive an email with a link to set up your steward account. Once you have set up your steward account, you have the option to add your library’s location to the world map and manage all of its details in real time. Your library will not appear on the map unless you add it. To map your library, log in to your steward account through the Little Free Library app or steward web portal, fill in your library’s information, and set its Map Status to Mapped.
5. Build Community Support
Get your community involved! Tell your friends, family, and neighbors in person. Use social media to engage your community. Hold a Grand Opening Ceremony and invite your neighbors to kick off the library in style with a ribbon cutting, snacks, and books freely exchanged! Contact the local paper, radio, and TV stations. Send out a press release. The more people who know about your library and support it, the better.
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We’ve teamed up with One World, an imprint of Random House, to bring stories of justice, identity, and hope directly into communities across the U.S. Read on to see if your city is on the list!
We’re placing 12 custom-designed Little Free Libraries, each inspired by a title from the ‘One World Essentials’ collection and placed in a community with meaningful ties to the book and/or its author. The communities and related titles are:
•Montgomery, AL – Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
•Los Angeles, CA – See No Stranger by Valarie Kaur
•Oakland, CA – Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong
•Atlanta, GA – All We Can Save by Katharine K. Wilkinson and Ayana Johnson
•Baltimore, MD – The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
•Baltimore, MD – Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
•Flint, MI – What the Eyes Don’t See by Dr. Mona Hanna
•Brooklyn, NY – The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee
•Manhattan, NY – Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
•Ossining, NY – The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
•Philadelphia, PA – My Broken Language by Quiara Alegría Hudes
•Washington, DC – How to Be an Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
Learn more and apply for one of these libraries on our blog (link in bio).
#littlefreelibrary #littlelibrary #freelittlelibrary #bookstagram
Frosty trails and snowy tales ❄️
Find book to snuggle in with at a Little Free Library near you! Locate one using our free mobile app; download at the link in our bio.
📸: @littlefreenashua
#littlefreelibrary #littlelibrary #freelittlelibrary #bookstagram #letitsnow #snow #winter
February b🩷🩷k giveaways are open! 📚
Enter at the link in our bio.
#littlefreelibrary #littlelibrary #freelittlelibrary #bookstagram #giveaway #bookgiveaway
STUMPED on what to read next? 🪵 Visit a Little Free Library!
Find one near you by downloading our free mobile app at the link in our bio.
📸: @mellynn66
#littlefreelibrary #littlelibrary #freelittlelibrary #bookstagram
🩷Community 🧡 You matter 💛 Inclusion 💚 Peace 💙 Justice 💜
Need a book recommendation? Check out our Read in Color Recommended Reading lists at the link in our bio.
📸: @lukeswan33
#littlefreelibrary #littlelibrary #freelittlelibrary #bookstagram
The Minnesota-based Little Free Library national nonprofit organization mourns the unjust killings of Alex Pretti and Renée Good. We also honor their lives and positive contributions to our Minneapolis–St. Paul community. Good was a poet; Pretti was an ICU nurse for U.S. veterans.
In his eulogy, Pretti’s final nursing student offered this plea: “Take one step, no matter how small, to help heal our world.”
We are deeply grateful for the dedication of Little Free Library stewards across the country and around the world who bring people together through book sharing. So many stewards tell us their Little Free Libraries become community hubs — places of belonging, connection, and mutual care. Thank you for the small steps you take toward unity every day.
For friends looking for small steps to support our state, please explore the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits resource list at the link in our bio.
Did you know there are Little Free Library book-sharing boxes on all seven continents? That`s right! There`s a Little Free Library at the South Pole!
Learn more on our blog at the link in our bio.
#littlefreelibrary #littlelibrary #freelittlelibrary #bookstagram
A good book is calling from a Little Free Library near you! And it may be bigger on the inside… ☎️
Shop the TARDIS and Telephone Booth Little Free Libraries (both pictured here) and more at the link in our bio.
📸: @treereads
#littlefreelibrary #littlelibrary #freelittlelibrary #bookstagram #shopnow