- Last Updated on Sunday, 28 August 2016 00:25
By Charlotte Hopkins
Carnegie Free Library has been the top spot for book lovers in McKeesport since it opened over 100 years ago. Sadly, it is not easily accessible to many of today's residents.
Mimi Bandola Langer has thought of a way to solve that. She is creating Little Free Libraries and putting them up across the cities in areas such as Crawford Village, Harrison Village, 10th Ward, Haler Heights, and Christy Park. “Kids and adults need to have access to books to read,” expressed Langer. Readers can either keep the books, trade them, or return them.
Right now, the books in her Little Free Libraries are set out in plastic crates. Volunteers have since offered to build wooden boxes to protect the books from the elements of the weather. She got the idea from a photograph of a Little Free Library that she saw on the internet. Since she started displaying her Little Free Libraries, she has received a number of donated boxes of books and is meeting with Book Country to discuss more donated books for her libraries.
To donate books or building supplies, Langer can be reached on herFacebook page: McKeesport and Neighboring Communities Newswatch. Since its start, she received requests for her Little Free Libraries in Highland Grove and Grandview as well.