By Jessica Moore

Staff Writer

Claire Garrell, 16, will be a junior at Cornersville High School this year. She has been in 4-H since she was in the fourth grade. As part of her citizenship project for 4-H, Claire chose to help bring the Little Free Library to Lewisburg.

Claire's family and 4-H leader supported her endeavor by helping her in their own way. Claire's father built the library, which has an adorable resemblance to a school house, and she painted it. Her mother helped her to fill its shelves with books, most of which she had acquired through consignment.

The Little Free Library can be found in front of the Lewisburg Housing Authority building on Bark Street. The books in the library are available to anyone. They hope to have a wide variety including books for all ages. A second location is already underway in front of the Dream Center, in the old Connelly school building. She is hoping for a third location at the park in Cornersville.

Ronald Robinson, executive director of the Lewisburg Housing Authority, and Marshall County Mayor Joe Boyd Liggett were there to help her open the first Little Free Library in Lewisburg. They both had very positive things to say about Claire's project.

"We are really excited about this. Kids and adults having access to free books is really a great thing. We are really proud and glad you chose to put it here," said Robinson.

"The importance of the Little Free Library is its encouragement of reading to young and older kids. To have one in the neighborhood, with books that you can bring back or keep is a great thing to encourage reading. Reading is the key to education," said Liggett.

The mission of the Little Free Library is to promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide, and to build a sense of community. The Little Free Library began in 2009 as a program of the non-profit organization Wisconsin Partners for SustainAbility. The idea became popular in Wisconsin when Todd Bol mounted a wooden container designed to look like a school house in his yard. This was a tribute to his mother, who was a book lover and a school teacher. Bol shared his idea to his partner Rick Brooks. They found many ways to pass on the word, and the idea spread rapidly.

There are currently 5,000 registered Little Free Libraries in the world and 1,000 estimated that are not registered, and most with a sign that says, "Take a Book, Leave a Book." Donations to the Little Free Library will be accepted inside the Lewisburg Housing Authority's office on Bark Street.