As St. John residents wait for repairs to be completed on the Elaine I. Sprauve Library, volunteers are doing what they can to get books in the hands of readers — especially young ones — through Little Free Library.
Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization with more than 20,000 sites in 122 countries. The idea is simple: Build or buy a small enclosed box with shelves and put it in an accessible location, stock it with books, and invite people to take a book or share one.
On St. John, the “official” sites are located in Frank Powell Park in Cruz Bay, Maho Bay (near the bar at Maho Crossroads,) Coral Bay (next to the fire station,) and at the offices of the Calabash Boom and Bellevue Village housing communities.
On St. Thomas, there are nine sites ranging from Crown Bay Marina to Ezra Fredericks Ballpark; William “Danny” Daniel serves as the St. Thomas coordinator.
On St. Croix, there are three sites in Frederiksted and Christiansted coordinated by Karen McIntosh-Bruce. Readers can view all the sites around the world on this map https://littlefreelibrary.org/map/.
Little Free Library got its start in the Virgin Islands in 2019 when Princess Cruises introduced the idea, according to Beth Nuttall, director of grants and programs at the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands. With the support of Yolanda Bryan and funding through the Tourism Department, trainees at My Brothers Workshop and others built the first set of little libraries and worked with the Sports, Parks and Recreation Department to place them at sites where youngsters gather.
Now on St. John, volunteers (who all happen to be book lovers) often travel with a box of books in their cars to keep each Little Free Library well stocked.
“I’m doing this for the kids who live here who don’t have continuous access to a library,” said volunteer Carol Beckowitz. (The Elaine I Sprauve Library on St. John has been open only intermittently since 2016.)
“I want to participate in getting books into public spaces where people could freely pick and choose, at any time of the day, any day of the week, what they want to read – particularly kids,” Beckowitz continued. “The libraries are cute, colorful, inviting, highly democratic, and are built in a low-profile way that allows kids to browse the shelves as easily as adults.”
In keeping with the mission to give children access to books, three Little Free Library sites on St. John — Bellevue, Calabash and Coral Bay — are devoted to books for youngsters. “We have so many wonderful children’s books,” said Janet Cook-Rutnik, who helps stock the site in Cruz Bay. “Some of them are bilingual. Some are for really young children and others are Young Adult Literature titles.”
The Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands acquires high-quality books for the Little Free Library sites through a number of ways. Some are donated by local authors, while others are distributed by publishers and educational nonprofit organizations.
When Jeannie Bishop moved to St. John in 2024, she looked around for things to do while she waited for her nurse’s license to be approved. Jeannie’s husband, Paul, is the general manager of the Westin St. John Resort Villas, and after noticing that guests often searched for a good “beach read,” she volunteered to set up a free library in the lobby.
Bishop began collecting “gently used” books from local sources, which turned out to be fairly easy. The Pink Papaya Café and Bookstore had recently closed down, and the Resource Depot, where used goods are recycled, stopped accepting books for resale. Some of the books she collected were “not in the best condition,” she said, so she taught herself how to repair bindings and produce new covers.
The Bishops have lived in a number of locations because of their careers, so she sent out a request for donations to her contacts in the States; soon, boxes of books started arriving.
Now she has a surplus. “I have 15 boxes of children’s books in my house, and many more boxes stored at the Westin. I want to give them away to schools, day care centers, after-school programs,” said Bishop. She asked the Source to share her phone number, 321-438-2232, for anyone who wants to collect books to distribute.
On St. John, Little Free Libraries are not the only source for free books. Skinny Legs in Coral Bay sponsors a free lending library featuring a wide range of books for adults, and Cinnamon Bay campground now has a dedicated shelf for recycling books.
At official Little Free Library sites, there is a plaque that states, “Take a book. Share a book,” but in fact, there is no requirement to replace a borrowed book.
Most of the volunteers are happy just to see people find a book they like. “What goes around, comes around,” they say.
