Dixon’s free little libraries polished up, reignite United Way of Lee County initiative

DIXON — To reignite United Way of Lee County’s free little library initiative, the organization recently teamed up with local artists to paint the repurposed newspaper dispensers, created a graphic that displays a map of the libraries’ locations and installed three additional libraries.

The little libraries are free book exchanges where people can take a book or leave a book. It all started in 2016 after Sauk Valley Media donated four old newspaper dispensers. That year, a group of local artists volunteered to paint them and the Dixon Park District installed the boxes at different parks around town, United Way Executive Director Ashley Richter said in an interview with Shaw Local.

Three more boxes were donated after that, and this summer three boxes were donated by the Dixon Lions Club. All told, the collection has grown to a total of 10 libraries in and around the city of Dixon.

The libraries can be found at Vaile Park, Haymarket Square, Rock River Estates, John Dixon Park, Page Park, Wooden Wonderland, Grand Detour Township Building, Ballou Park, Chateau Estates and at the bike path trailhead on Washington Avenue.

Five of the libraries were created using old newspaper dispensers, which “was such a nice thing to repurpose them for this... I feel like it’s a really cool way of getting them out,” Richter said.

Originally, the dispensers were painted with a solid color and designed to look like robots. In spring 2024, “we thought it’d be really fun to give them a refresh and maybe spark some new interest,” she said.

“By partnering with these local artists, my hope was that they could feel like art installations at the park, so it’s not only like, ‘oh this is cool,’ but also it’s visually fun and engaging,” Richter said.

Annie Hermes painted the dispensers at Vaile Park and Wooden Wonderland, Nora Reuter painted the one at the bike path trailhead on Washington Avenue, Chloe Metz painted the one at the Grand Detour Township Building, and the Next Picture Show – a fine arts center in Dixon – painted the one in Ballou Park.

The other five boxes, including the ones donated by the Dixon Lions Club over the summer, are wooden boxes designed to resemble little houses with shutters and doors that open to access the books inside.

Two of those libraries, the ones at Haymarket Square and Page Park, also got a new paint job by Woodlawn Arts Academy, an arts organization in Sterling.

Regardless of its style, all the libraries use the same concept of take a book, leave a book and anyone can bring books to donate to the libraries. Individual volunteers go around each week to check the boxes and restock them if needed, Richter said.

The Dixon Park District is also a huge piece of this program, she said. In the winter, the park district takes out the newspaper dispensers, stores them and reinstalls them once spring comes. Throughout the year, the park district also completes repairs on the libraries if any of them are damaged.

“It’s a great thing just to have in the community and to have so many different locations,” Richter said. “We wanted to try to install some out at the city limit areas where it might be a little harder for families to get to the library.”

For information, visit United Way of Lee County’s website.