Little Free Libraries Installed At Alpharetta Parks

ALPHARETTA, GA — A passion for reading, accessibility and community literacy has sparked a partnership between The Rotary Club of North Fulton, Alpharetta’s Recreation, Parks & Cultural Services Department and local residents to install four Little Free Libraries at city parks. These stakeholders came together Friday, Oct. 26 to celebrate these new additions at the parks.

Friday's launch was celebrated a week after the passing of Todd Bol, founder of this initiative adopted by many communities around the country. Bol’s “take a book, leave a book” philosophy has created a global community of more than 75,000 small, unique book exchanges and spans more than 80 countries.

The energy created by this movement spread and has inspired local community members to engage the city to collaboratively launch this exciting new initiative for park guests.

"Great ideas like this from the community are what make our local parks thrive," said Alpharetta City Councilman Jason Binder.

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This shared vision kept key players committed to overcoming hurdles encountered throughout the location scouting process.

"We have a devotion to literacy and want all children in our community to have access to books," said Rotary Club of North Fulton’s Doug Higgins.

Higgins built three of the four libraries that now reside around Alpharetta’s parks. Resident Lisa Gelber also jumped on board to help make these libraries a reality. Gelber, who has collected more than 500 books donated by friends and family, will serve as the local caretaker of the four libraries located at Wacky World at Wills Park (in memory of Angela Krause and donated by the Krause Family), Cogburn Park, Alpharetta Community Center and North Park.

The celebration was attended by approximately 30 people, including Alpharetta Mayor Jim Gilvin, members of The Rotary Club of North Fulton and community members.

For more information about the Little Free Libraries or to donate, email alpharettareads@gmail.com.

From left to right are Doug Higgins, Rotary Club of North Fulton; Morgan Rodgers, Alpharetta’s Recreation, Parks & Cultural Services director; Jim Gilvin, Alpharetta’s mayor; Lisa Gelber and Jason Binder, Alpharetta City Council member. Credit: city of Alpharetta