Free, portable Little Library debuts in Yuba City amid budget cuts
YUBA CITY — The Yuba Sutter Rotary Night Club has come up with a way to make sure everyone has access to literature—they've built a free Little Library on wheels.
"The idea is to get the books in the hands of folks who wouldn't otherwise get the opportunity to enjoy them," Yuba City Mayor Shon Harris said.
The Little Library was a gift from the Yuba Sutter Rotary Night Club and made its debut outside of the Sutter Theater Center, where it will be based. Dubbed LL1, it's a portable library shelved with banned, fiction, non-fiction and children's books.
"With the fact the Sutter County library has its budget cut and they're shutting down one day a week extra, it is leading to problems," said Shawntay Arroyo with the Yuba Sutter Rotary Night Club.
Arroyo came up with the idea to make books more accessible to all community members.
"Books are expensive when you go buy them. Libraries are not utilized as much as they should be. But if you're walking down the sidewalk of a busy street, you see free books, you're going to grab one," she said.
"We need the kids and more grown ups to read," Yuba City resident Connie Rodriguez said.
The Little Library can be taken to schools and events where it might be needed. The goal is to build more and put them outside of businesses around town.
"The ones that are built permanently do get vandalized. The books get ripped out, torn up. So we thought this is a nice way for us to keep an eye on it. We move it in and out of the business every single day," Arroyo said.
The Little Library was built by community members for community members. We watched children leave with a new book and the shelf fill back up with donations.
"This is amazing because I think it will bring the community together," Rodriguez said.
The Yuba Sutter Rotary Night Club said the Little Library is not just for kids. There will be books for all ages.