This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.

Little Free Library Comes to Town Thanks to Karyn Putney and Family

Little Free Library is a non-profit organization that aims to inspire a love of reading and build community by fostering neighborhood book exchanges around the world, and thanks to Karyn Putney and her family, East Haven now has its own Little Free Library (LFL).

Karyn says she had been following the organization’s website for many years, and her daughter Emily is just finishing kindergarten. She says Emily’s class was very focused on reading and knew that going into the summer, the kids were going to want to do a lot of reading.

“I figured this was a good way for all the neighborhood kids to come by and swap books throughout the summer, so they don’t have to keep running back and forth to the big library,” says Karyn, “The amount these kids read is unbelievable.”

Always one to read since was young, Karyn says that the LFL seems to be bringing out the neighborhood.

“We’re meeting a lot of our neighbors now,” she says.

Karyn says she put a guest book in the library box, and her kids like reading the guest book to see if they’ve had “any new friends they haven’t met yet come by.”

She says she definitely hopes it benefits not only her neighborhood, but also hopes other residents of East Haven come by and utilize it. Her husband Brent says it’s not a profitable thing, and hopes other people might be inspired to create their own.

The program is international, and Karyn says that when she showed the map of locations to her parents and Brent, they were surprised by how many of them are in Connecticut, but how few there are near East Haven.

Karyn says she got help to start the LFL from Brent, her dad, and friends.

“Everyone kind of contributed their own thing to it,” Karyn says.

She says the kids picked the paint colors, Brent put it into the ground, and her dad showed her how to shingle the top of the structure.

There are all different kinds of books in the library, including fiction, non-fiction, children’s books, and audio books that were donated by Karyn’s mother.

“We have dog cookies in there because there’s a lot of neighborhood walkers, and we have a recipe swap for anyone that wants to take a recipe or leave a recipe,” Karyn says.

Feeling like there are other things she can do with the LFL, Karyn says one of the things they can do is a “seed swap” in the fall, since there are many people with gardens in the area.

The LFL isn’t the only way Karyn helps out the community. She is the leader of a Girl Scout Daisy troop in town, and was a member of the PTA for Deer Run Elementary School, but is no longer involved because her child is changing schools.

She also works part-time as a nurse and worked in pediatrics for “quite a few years.”

“Always, from the time I started in nursing, I just encouraged early reading with kids,” Karyn says, “Before they’re old enough to read, they should be read to every day.”

The Putney Family hosted a grand opening party for their LFL on Sunday, July 2, which was open to the public. The celebration included kid’s crafts, small prizes, and free refreshments. Karyn also encouraged guests to bring their own picnic lunch.

“We have a scavenger hunt throughout the books, and I have awards for the kids that complete the scavenger hunt,” Karyn says, “Trying to find different types of books, one, I think, is find a book with a main character that’s an animal, things like that.”

Karyn says books will be rotated out after a couple of days so new ones can be put in, and Brent says that they’ll put books related to holidays in there depending on what holiday is coming up.

Brent says that Karen started a Facebook page for the LFL, and the last time he checked, it had gotten over 150 “likes.”

“The response has been very positive,” says Brent.

Everyone in her community is thankful for the LFL, Karyn says, adding that she feels awesome seeing everyone come out.

“I think it makes people that were maybe not as comfortable approaching neighbors; it gives them something to talk about and it gets them out and talking more,” Karyn says.

She mentioned a neighbor that she hadn’t met before came over when she first opened the LFL, and told Karyn that a few neighbors actually swap books between them regularly.

“I told them this could be their new landing zone,” Karyn says with a laugh, “They can just leave them here and swap right out of the library.”