HOPEWELL BOROUGH: Open-air ‘little libraries’ to sprout around town

By Frank Mustac, Special Writer
Three “little libraries” designed and built by 3rd-grade students at Hopewell Elementary School will soon be installed around town.
The Hopewell Borough Council unanimously approved the installation of two of the free outdoor book exchange centers on municipal property after several of the students delivered a presentation about the project during the governing body’s March 3 meeting.
The libraries are essentially cabinets made of wood just a few feet high, wide and deep, with shelves inside to stack books. Each little library has a door to access the books and a pitched roof to protect it from rain and snow.
The idea behind the little free libraries is to “to promote literacy and the love of reading,” according to the website littlefreelibrary.org, which the students used to guide them with the project. Donated books shelved inside the libraries will be available for free to read and return, and members of the community are encouraged to leave books they would like to donate.
One of the little libraries will be installed at Hopewell Borough’s historic old railroad station, and another will be placed at Hopewell Park near the gazebo, also called the bandstand.
The third little library will be located outdoors at Hopewell Elementary School along a sidewalk visible from 3rd-grade class taught by teacher Michelle Hamilton.
“I love the three locations that they selected, which was based on student input,” said David Friedrich, the school principal. “They made a really nice contribution to the community.”
“This was all really (accomplished by) Mrs. Hamilton,” the principal said. “I love the fact that it was a collaborative effort between herself, her students and a former teacher, Robert Alexander, who is retired,” Mr. Friedich said.
Mr. Alexander, affectionately known at the school as “Mr. A,” left Hopewell Elementary in 2014.
Ms. Hamilton said the three little libraries were designed and assembled by the 18 students in her class. The children were divided into three groups, and each group was responsible for one little library.
“The project stemmed out of our math unit on measurement,” Mrs. Hamilton said. “The students had to figure out what size these little libraries would be. They designed a blueprint of it with exact measurements. They made prototypes, and they put their books in them to see if it would work.”
She said that once the plans were all correct and tested with a prototype, the student gave the plans to Mr. Alexander, who came to the classroom to talk to the students about the project. Mr. Alexander took the blueprints with him, then cut all the pieces to dimension and brought the pieces back to the classroom, where the children assembled the three little libraries.
“The kids got to use hammers, screwdrivers and drills and put the pieces all together,” Mrs. Hamilton said.
Part of a social studies unit third-grade students do in the spring, she said, involves “learning about how our community runs and talking about the Borough Council and the mayor and what their jobs are.”
“So I thought we would do math and social studies and tie them together. The students got to see it in real life.” she said. “I’m just happy we got to do this.” 