Architecture and design students were challenged in September to design and build libraries big enough to hold only a dozen or so books.
In November, they began installing the tiny libraries in Acadiana neighborhoods. The idea behind them is simple: homeowners become library stewards. Neighbors can drop by to take a book or leave a book.
A little library designed by Taylor Prudhome, a sophomore majoring in interior design and minoring in architecture, was the first to find a home.
Catherine Schoeffler Comeaux, a 1995 alumna, is the library’s steward. She and her husband, Stephan, and their three daughters live in Les Jardins de Mouton subdivision, a few blocks from campus. They have lived there since December 2009.
Comeaux said the library has been an icebreaker. Neighbors have stopped by to introduce themselves and ask about the library. “I’ve met people who pass my house every day, but we could have gone decades not knowing each other’s names,” she said.
That story of community connections is a familiar one, said Todd Bol, a Wisconsin native who built the first little library in 2010 and placed it on his own front lawn. He built it to honor his late mother, a teacher and book lover.
“Neighbors started coming by to borrow books or just to chat. I got to meet people who had always lived nearby but I’d never met,” Bol told La Louisiane. He and his business partner, Rick Brooks, formed a nonprofit organization to promote Little Free Libraries.
As a result, that scenario has unfolded in thousands of communities across the United States and overseas. “Whether it’s in India or America, the story is the same,” he said.
Bol was on UL Lafayette’s campus in September to judge the students’ work. He said he was impressed by their efforts.
“The students showed a great deal of diversity in their work and they’ve addressed some design problems we’ve had along the way.”