Free Little Library at 227 E Douglas St.

By Dani Tietz

Bruce and Patricia Rape believe that access to books should be readily available to all.

While teaching literacy at St. Joseph Middle School for more than 30 years, Patricia worked hard to help students find books that made them excited to read.

“I’ve always been saddened when people don’t like to read,” Patricia said. “And I always think they haven’t found something that will inspire them. I always told my students if they didn’t like to read, we would find something.”

Now retired, Bruce — who worked at Danville Area Community College — and Patricia decided to find other ways to share their love of books with the St. Joseph community.

Over the summer months, the couple took an old cabinet built by Bruce’s dad and transformed it into a Free Little Library.

A project started by Todd Bol in 2009, the Free Little Library, which encourages community members to build small enclosures that house books, has grown to 75,000 libraries in 88 countries.

Bruce and Patricia’s library is located at 227 E Douglas St.

Because their home is on the route to school for many St. Joseph Elementary and St. Joseph Middle School students, the Rapes hope to provide access to a wide variety of literature.

Because Patricia focused on young adult literature throughout her career, she has an assortment of books for fourth through eighth graders available. The Rapes are working on providing books for younger children.

“I’d like to appeal to a broader range of children,” Patricia said.

Their Little Library also includes literature for adults, including fiction, memoirs, science fiction, romance and mystery.

“In the adult lit that I have out there now, I’ve tried to touch all genres, not just those that are necessarily appealing to me,” Patricia said.

Bruce and Patricia have enjoyed sharing their love of books, encouraging each other to read, and spreading book suggestions among friends.

Bruce will read one book at a time, while Patricia will often read multiple books at one time.

He’s always amazed that she will complete a book, even when she doesn’t find it interesting.

“I always think there’s something redeeming,” Patricia said.

Patricia enjoys sharing books with loved ones from college who live in Pennsylvania or a friend in Ogden who exchanges a bag of books with her on a monthly basis.

When the couple has gatherings in their home, guests are always impressed with their book collection, and the couple will offer suggestions.

Often times, the couple will talk about how a story touched them or books that were hard to put down, then will hear from a friend down the road.

“People will contact me, and say, ‘I took your advice and tried that book, and it was wonderful,’ ” Patricia said.

She also said that books are often bridges between two people.

“Maybe you can’t make a connection to someone socially, but you can make connections with the characters in a book or the setting in the book,” she said.

For Bruce and Patricia, their Little Library is just about that: connections.

“(The Little Library) was started to give people more immediate access to books as opposed to waiting to go to a library or those who can’t afford to go to a bookstore. I think another premise is to draw together neighborhoods,” Bruce said.

The couple also joined the turquoise table movement, painting an old table turquoise, and putting it in their front yard next to the Little Library.

Their hope is that people will not only stop by to pick up a book, but may also sit at the table and visit.

“It’s another way to pull together people in the neighborhood,” Bruce said.

The Rapes said a couple people have stopped by to get books recently, but they would really like to see more people interact with their library.

“I think some people are under the impression that it’s only permissible to take one if you bring one,” Patricia said. “But that’s absolutely not true. It’s great to bring, but you don’t have to bring one.”