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| The Little Free Library located at the George Mullen Community Center in North Port. |
SARASOTA COUNTY – Two new locations have been added to the highly successful Little Free Libraries program, which uses the “take a book, leave a book” honor system to promote reading.
The two new locations include the Englewood Sports Complex in Englewood, and the George Mullen Activity Center in North Port.
Three county departments – Libraries and Historical Resources; Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources; and Sarasota County UF/IFAS Extension and Sustainability – launched the project last year to provide the Little Free Libraries at locations throughout the community. The City of North Port now joins the collaborative effort to bring a Little Free Library to one of their community centers.
“North Port is excited about being included in this initiative,” said Sandy Pfundheller, North Port Parks and Recreation manager. “Activities like these give yet another great reason for families to visit our parks, and we know our residents will enjoy this new feature at the Mullen Center.”
Lee Hayes Byron, sustainability manager for Sarasota County, feels the Little Free Libraries provides a host of great benefits to the community.
“This program promotes a love of reading and saves people money by encouraging the sharing economy,” said Byron, adding, “There is also an environmental benefit by keeping books circulating and out of the landfill.”
The Little Free Library national program encourages small lending libraries at standalone locations. Each Little Free Library is a box of books available for anyone to use on the honor system. They are a gathering place where neighbors share their favorite books with one another and discover new literature and stories. The books are meant to appeal to a diverse audience of all ages, and anyone can access them for free. Users are simply asked to replace each book with another in good condition from their collection at home.
Little Free Libraries are available at the following locations:
- Twin Lakes Park, Sarasota County IFAS/UF Extension, 6700 Clark Road, Sarasota
- Urfer Family Park, 4000 Honore Ave., Sarasota
- Colonial Oaks Park, 5300 Colonial Oaks Blvd., Sarasota
- Longwood Park, 6050 Longwood Run Blvd., Sarasota
- Shamrock Park, 3900 Shamrock Drive, Venice
- Englewood Sports Complex, 1300 S River Rd, Englewood
- George Mullen Activity Center, 1602 Kramer Way, North Port
