Pine Belt residents may be familiar with the Little Free Libraries found throughout Petal, Hatttiesburg, Lumberton and Sumrall that allow participants to borrow, donate and return books to be used by the community.
Now, the Petal Cosmopolitan Club has brought another similar concept the Friendly City, with a free lending library recently installed at the Petal Children’s Task Force at 314 South George Street. Officials from the Petal Cosmopolitan Club – including Leahne Lightsey and Penny Barr – were joined by city and other officials during a Nov. 12 unveiling of the library at the task force.
“There are books in here for all ages, and we were really wanting to reach out to the community,” Barr said. “There’s a lot of foot traffic through here, so hopefully people that find out about it will come and get the books.
“They might be more comfortable coming here and getting a book than they are the library, which I would love for them to do that as well. But we’re hoping to reach some people that may not have access to libraries, or have limited access.”
The free lending library is open seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Residents are encouraged to take a book or two and return those books, and even leave some other books they may be finished with.
“The idea is to take the book home, read it, and bring it back so somebody else can read it and switch it out,” Lightsey said. “Take a book – a children’s book – and you can bring a book from your house, and take one back.
“But we have several books where Cosmopolitan Club members have donated books, and then also (Petal High School) Ambassadors (have donated also).”
The theme of the free lending library, which was designed by Petal resident Jodie Brickson and constructed by Weston Hill’s construction class at Petal High School, is “Reading Lets Your Imagination Soar.” Brickson lettered that theme on the front door of the library and painted two original artworks on each side of the box.
One side depicts a boy reading a book while imagining an astronaut and a ship, among other items he comes across while reading.
“Then on the other side, there’s a little girl, and she’s got horses and a castle,” Brickson said. “I painted (the theme) on the inside of the glass and some on the front of the glass, so it has kind of a dimensional look to it.”
The Petal Arts Council, of which Brickson is a member, will have a booth set up during Shop Petal First, which will be held from Nov. 19-21 at various retailers and restaurants throughout Petal. Various arts and crafts, such as pet portraits, will be available at the booth.
Cosmopolitan Club members expect to have an upcoming book drive to benefit the new lending library, as well as others in the area. In addition, officials also plan to register the library under the Little Free Library banner, which will officially make it part of that endeavor.
“The laundromat on George Street, and the other laundromat on Main Street, we put books there too,” Barr said. “That way, if you’re there doing the laundry and a child needs a book to look at, we put those there.”
Officials also hope to bring more free lending libraries to the area in the near future.
“What we’ve got to work on next is getting the word out to the community,” Barr said. “I know there’s a pretty large Hispanic population (near) here, and we’re going to work on getting some books in Spanish for that.”
