The addition of a box on a post designed to look like a schoolhouse and filled with books on the west side of Battle Ground aims to be a hub for residents in the new neighborhood.
In October, the “Little Free Library” at the Battle Ground Acres neighborhood on Southwest Fifth Street to the east of Southwest 15th Avenue opened for operation. Like others in the international Little Free Library system, the structure features books people can take for free. A picnic table is housed nearby so those who want to read a book have a spot to sit.
The Little Free Library is a solution to the lack of a park or playground in the tightly-packed 22-home neighborhood, said Randy Baker, the Battle Ground Acres Homeowners Association president and “steward” for the neighborhood’s Little Free Library.
“There’s no real green space or anything for the kids,” Baker said.
There are more than 150,000 Little Free Libraries registered with the nonprofit organization, with the Battle Ground Acres unit numbered 154,507. Baker said he was one of the last people to move into the neighborhood at the end of January. He spearheaded the placement of the unit.
The unit is stocked with children’s books, Baker said, though other Little Free Libraries in the network are oriented toward older readers.
Apart from the offering of books, Baker said the unit also serves as stopping points in augmented reality games from Niantic. The Little Free Library is both a “portal” in Ingress and a “Pokestop” in Pokemon Go.
Baker said setting up the Little Free Library for augmented reality was a way to add some interactivity with the unit in lieu of having a more traditional playground, which is infeasible given the limited space.
Playing off of the “LFL” initials for Little Free Library, on Christmas day, the books inside will be replaced with “Little Free Legos.” The unit will feature dozens of Lego “minifigures” kids can take with them.
“Instead of checking out a book, they can come in and grab a little lego figurine,” Baker said.
The Little Free Library was made possible through donations and not association dues, Baker said. He said the Little Free Library fits in with the direction the neighborhood wants their homeowners association to go.
“A lot of times you move into a place and you end up not liking the (homeowners association) because of a variety of odd rules,” B
