Hung up on a quaint white picket fence at the east end of Bonhomme Street is Jasper鈥檚 first free library. Inside the small wooden house, complete with a glass door, sits a collection of books ranging from real life sport sagas to the fictional fantasies of Alice in Wonderland.
鈥淭he idea is that you can take a book, leave a book or both,鈥� said the free library鈥檚 creator, Jamie Orfald-Clarke.
Orfald-Clarke and his wife Marissa Kidd moved to Jasper from Ontario in September. Despite embracing Jasper as their own, a touch of the homesick blues struck Kidd.
So for her birthday earlier this month, Orfald-Clarke dug up bits of wood and an old window pane from the nearby dump and got to work crafting the tiny book house.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been talking for awhile about the idea of it,鈥� said Orfald-Clarke, adding that there had been several free libraries in his former Kingston neighbourhood. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 just the kind of neighborhood it was鈥攍ots of families and a real community vibe. So I thought I would make one for Marissa to make her feel at home while we鈥檙e going through this transition.鈥�
The tiny library went up during the middle of the month. So far there鈥檚 been a couple of book swaps, but Orfald-Clarke is hoping the pint-sized project will catch on and will be used by residents and tourists alike.
Jammed in with the rows of literature is also a small black guestbook.
鈥淚f people feel like it they can sort of track it, see where people are from or where the book is going,鈥� Orfald-Clarke said.
In Orfald-Clarke鈥檚 former community of Kingston, he said the unique sharing initiatives went beyond free books.
鈥淪ome people would have small book houses, but there was another one called the tiniest art gallery and it would have miniature paintings, and there was one woman who had a blackboard and she would write聽a different poem on it every week,鈥� he said. 聽鈥淚 think the more community things you do like this the more you grow the community you live in.鈥�
It鈥檚 believed that the tiny library movement was popularized in 2009 in Wisconsin, when Todd Bol mounted a wooden container designed to look like a schoolhouse on a post as a tribute to his mother, who was a book lover and schoolteacher. Bol shared his idea with his partner, Rick Brooks, who spread the word.
Bol now runs a website (www.littlefreelibrary.org), which gives the location of thousands of little free libraries across the world.
Orfald-Clarke鈥檚 tiny book exchange can be found at 221 Bonhomme St.
Kayla Byrne
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