[not_the_fda]

I build these and have one at my house.

Its been interesting.

Had some teenagers try to blow it up with fireworks.

Have to constantly remove proselytizing, mostly christian, pamphlets from it.

Had to buy a stamp https://littlefreelibrary.myshopify.com/products/self-inking... so drug addicts don't clear it out sell the books to buy smack.

Other than hat its been mostly self sustaining.

[pickleglitch]

There's a little neighborhood park where I live, just down the street, where there have been 2 attempts to setup one of these. The first one was poorly constructed and the door fell off after just a couple of weeks. The second one I think the neighborhood kids broke on purpose. This, of course, after taking the books out and lighting them on fire for fun. There were charred pages all over for days. We're lucky they didn't catch the brush, of which there is plenty, on fire.

I've considered trying to build one myself, but I know it would just end up the same way.

[wccrawford]

My wife wanted one of these so bad that she fought the HOA on it to install one. It's been better than you describe, but yeah... Pamphlets, stolen books, etc. And we know they were "stolen" because if all the good books disappear at once and never return, you know someone stole them.

I've considered getting a stamp... But just haven't bothered yet. If the thefts start to really bother my wife, I'll get one.

She gets a ton of joy from seeing kids use it. And that's what really matters.

[SamBam]

I don't understand the meaning of the word "stolen" in this context.

I've never seen a LFL with explicit rules on who can or cannot take out the books, or what they're allowed to do with the books afterward.

If someone sees "all the good books," are they not allowed to want all the good books? What if they take them and don't get around to reading them, are they stealing them?

I understand that there's a potential tragedy of the commons with a LFL, but if I put some of my books in one, am not going to worry about whether they're being read the "right" way. Mostly I'm happy to have had a place to donate my books, and figure there's a non-zero chance they'll be read again.

[eudamoniac]

It means taken with the intent to resell, not to read.

[SamBam]

Sure, but how do you honestly know that? Is it based on the profile of the person you see looking through them? Some people don't look like they should be readers? Or the fact that the "good ones" -- the ones that people presumably want to read -- get taken?

I guess I'm happier not getting angry over things that I don't know for sure, I'm happier generally assuming the best of my neighbors, and I accept that the books are out of my control once I drop them off at the library.

[eudamoniac]

Well first of all if thirty books disappear in one day, that's probably an inorganic usage. If none of them ever reappear, that's another indicator. And then if the person you see taking thirty books is dressed in rags with a shopping cart, you can be pretty confident.

Or maybe OP just means that none of them ever return; it's supposed to be a LF Library after all, not a LF bookshelf.

[SamBam]

Huh, I've literally never heard of someone before thinking it's supposed to be a library that you return books to. Must be different attitudes in different places. I've always seen people treat it as a swap-shop. Take some books you want, and some other day drop off some books you want to give away.

[gosub100]

I don't understand how it's bad to pirate a book, but fine to freely give one away. Both deprive the author of a sale. Either they should both be allowed or both be prohibited.

[SamBam]

Same reason you're allowed to gift your gold watch to someone, or sell your car.

Both of them do potentially deprive the creator of a sale, but they keep the same total number of things in circulation.

Sure, you can argue that philosophically it comes to the same thing, but the problem is that, if you win that argument, the powers that be are more likely to ban giving away things you own than they are to allow piracy...

[gosub100]

Interesting idea, but isn't the value of a book derived from the entertainment or reference usage? If I enjoy a story, the transaction is complete. I paid my money, got my product, consumed it , and now I can get another. If I transfer it to someone, the content is potentially consumed twice, but only one payment was made to the author. "Can't have your cake and eat it too - except for books"

[ddtaylor]

Drug addicts mess with them in most of the states I have been to, including Oregon, Washington, California, Maryland and New York.

[lukan]

Ah man, even my hometown in germany, which I consider to have a big drug problem - somehow manages to have these libaries(usually in old telephone cells) without junkies clearing them out. Apparently things can be worse it seems, what a shame.

[owenversteeg]

Interesting. In New Hampshire and Vermont they seem to be mostly fine (if usually full of very bland romance books.) In the Netherlands there is a broader selection of books in my experience but they are more often vandalized / emptied.

[PacificSpecific]

Did the stamp work out?

[sigwinch]

Ideally, what should the stamp say?

[PacificSpecific]

It says in the OP's link. I was just wondering if book buyers respected the stamp and furthermore if the people stealing the books recognize it enough to be deterred.

[not_the_fda]

Yes the places that buy used books respect the stamp. They usually take all the books and take them to some place Half Priced Books https://www.hpb.com/ for some quick cash.

Places like that won't buy them if they are stamped.

They could try selling them on Amazon or E-Bay, but that's too much effort for quick cash to get a fix.

[PacificSpecific]

Thanks very much for the info. I'm building one now in a city with a fairly rough drug problem and I had no idea the stamp existed.