New little library opens outside courthouse

By Josephine Petersen

The Freeborn County courthouse has welcomed its very own little library.

The library has been a three-year journey involving three summer interns, Katey Witt, Anika Hansen and Evan Melby, having started in 2022 with Witt, who wanted to make a free library to have near an outdoor bench.

“She took it upon herself and her project to go to the county commissioners to seek approval to put a free library at the courthouse. They said yes, and she took it to our clubs,” said Amy Wadding, the extension educator for 4-H youth development.

Although the little library wasn’t finished that summer, the next intern took the project over the following summer.

“It kind of sat in our office for a while, then in 2023 our summer intern Anika wanted to pursue this as well. So our club that built it then designed it,” Wadding said.

Progress on the little library had to be paused when construction was being done at the courthouse near where the library was going to go.

“Then when Evan came on board this summer, he made it a mission to finish this project,” Wadding said. He finished fine tuning it, put a clear coat on it, bought the handle to open the door, worked with our maintenance department to get it put on the post and get it secured and kind of finalized it.”

The little library was finally put up on Monday of last week, July 8.

“There were a lot of people that utilized these benches to take a break from work, to take a break when they are going by, when they were coming out because the WIC office and public health is right inside,” she said, “Unfortunately these entrances are not open at this time.”

She said hopefully that would change, but noted there are still people who utilize that side of the building.

“They came here for pictures, they take a break, they look at the remembrance statue,” Wadding said. “We worked on getting some grants through some Minnesota publishers that were able to give us a chunk of books, that then we can refill them as needed. And then the Friends of the Library gave us I think three bags,” she said. “It’s nice to have 4-H clovers outside of the courthouse in a kid-friendly setting.”

She thanked the interns for their efforts on the project and the 4-H clubs who worked on the little library. Albert Lea can welcome another little library to its map.

List of all little libraries in Albert Lea

302 Bridge Ave.

805 Bridge Ave.

1009 Skylark Ln.

1452 W Main St.

668 Meadow Ln.

609 E 5th St.

2141 Kenneth Drive.

816 Bridge Ave.

606 Pilot St.

411 S. Broadway Ave.

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