Rotary Book Boxes in Sweden
This project was envisioned by Stefan as he was walking in Anchorage. (This project is often known in the US as "Little Free Libraries.") Seeing the book boxes ("mini-libraries"), he thought it was a good idea for his home community in Sweden. He contacted the local Rotary club in his hometown of Nordmaling. Members also liked the idea and thought about providing the book boxes to camp grounds.
Although Nordmaling is in the northern part of Sweden, it is an area with many tourists, campground and beaches. Thousands of people stop to stay or pass by annually. Although most tourists are Scandinavian, quite a few also come from continental Europe and two of the busy campgrounds are connected to beaches with temperate sea water.
Hans Asplund, a long time Rotarian from the local club, and Stefan made the boxes for these camp grounds and received permission to hunt them on a wall close to the check in area. The camp managers were very happy, Stefan reported. Although the idea is to provide books for all ages at no charge, if someone would like to make a donation to Rotary, there is an account for them to use in Swedish. The project information is in Swedish, English, German and French. Stefan also noted that this project connects closely with the club's literacy theme this year.
Both Stefan and Hans have an interest in woodworking and one can see from the photos their exceptional skill in building these highly attractive and durable boxes.
Thank you, Stefan and Hans!
