Placemaking looks to turn the page and make communities “more human,” explains [Phelps] Bondaroff. He says the libraries are a fantastic way for locals to play an active role in making that reality. “People in this region love little free libraries. Little free libraries are all about sharing, they’re about community, they’re about connecting people,” [Phelps] Bondaroff told CHEK News at the ribbon-cutting event in Vic West.

"And the thing I love about the most mist that they are often less about books and so much more about community and connecting people," said Teale Phelps Bondaroff.

“It’s really exciting to see how big the little free library project has gotten,” Phelps Bondaroff said in an interview with CHEK News. “When I started the project we had 111 little libraries, and our goal was to get to 150 for Canada’s 150th, and here we are, cutting the ribbon on the 650th little free library in the region.”

The capital region’s 650th Little Free Library was unveiled Saturday on the corner of Haultain and Scott Streets.

Named the Garden View Little Free Library, it was constructed from materials and shingles recycled from creators Marthinus and Lori de Wet’s 1910 home.

Book lovers, rejoice, another little free library is coming to Victoria. This Saturday, the organization behind upkeeping all the little free libraries (LFLs) around town, will be unveiling the 650th LFL. This milestone comes just days after the group announced the LFLs now host more than 75,000 books around the region. The Greater Victoria Placemaking Network (GVPN) Pocket Places Project has been delivering books to LFLs since 2017 and this week they hit their newest milestone of 75,000 books delivered. 

“It’s citizens taking an active role in shaping the urban landscape. It’s creating spaces for people to meet and interact… What you’ll see is that someone will build a little free library, then someone will put a bench next to it, then there might be a ‘fairy door’, then a seed library, and then another neighbour builds a library…there’s even a tree in James Bay that’s covered in tea cups.”
 

“All it takes is one person bringing beauty into the world. Other people are inspired by it, and community forms,” he adds.

Did you know? Now you can create your own Little Free Library Bingo Card!
 

If you’ve ever visited more than one little free library, you’ve likely noticed the same book or author popping up: The Da Vinci Code, say, or one of Danielle Steele’s potboilers. Rather than get frustrated by this, we decided to come up with a fresh way to engage with Victoria’s amazing and expansive network of little free libraries (LFLs): Little Free Library Bingo! 

Why does all this matter? Because in a world in which a steady barrage of negative news warps our perspective, little free libraries are a reminder of a basic goodness that is more common than we often realize. They’re an indicator of grassroots decency, just like the chairs that people install at rural bus stops, or the water dishes left for dogs outside local shops.

“There are now over 600 little free libraries in the CRD and there never seem to be enough children’s books to fill them. It’s fantastic that the Pocket Places Project can help top up local little free libraries with children’s books and share the fantastic work of a local Saanich author,” said Teale Phelps Bondaroff, board member of the Greater Victoria Placemaking Network.

“Little free libraries are an incredible way to promote reading, start conversations with our neighbours, and create community,” Rankin said. “We all have a role to play when it comes to reconciliation and I am encouraged by the Greater Victoria Placemaking Network’s initiative to bring conversations and knowledge about reconciliation to Victoria neighbourhoods.”

Teale Phelps Bondaroff spends a lot of his time thinking about books. A couple of times a week he loads up a bike trailer, which can hold up to 250 paperbacks, and pedals around town delivering books to free little libraries in need of a top-up. The weekend before last, he delivered the 20,000th book to a little library in ­Saanich as part of a placemaking ­project started in 2017.