Little Free Libraries are coming to Armenia! Join the movement by donating your books!

Laurie Alvandian, Nina Romá Agvanian, and Satenig Mirzoyan have taken an idea called Little Free Libraries (LFL), which started in Hudson, Wisconsin, in 2009, and have decided to bring it to Armenia through Birthright Armenia's Next Step Alumni Fund, which is a fund available to alumni who want to go beyond their volunteer experience and bring their ideas to reality. The LFL movement works to provide free libraries to the public. By doing this, they are helping Armenia develop in the following ways: 1) providing easier access to information; 2) promotion of reading culture; 3) preservation and celebration of Armenian language; 4) attraction of book loving tourists; 5) community development.

The concept of the LFL is very simple. A wooden box is constructed, designed, and filled with books, then placed strategically in areas where people might want to encounter the right book at the right time - in a park, by the metro, near a bench under a shady tree. LFLs come in all shapes and sizes and can be designed in any way that the creator sees fit. Ideally, LFLs work based on a ‘take a book, return a book system, in which a user takes a book out of the LFL and leaves something else behind for someone else to read. Of course, not everyone who comes across an LFL has something to leave behind, and that is perfectly ok. The purpose of the LFL is to give more than it is to receive.

When the LFL movement first began, the original goal of the project was to match and surpass the 2,509 free public libraries that Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish American industrialist and philanthropist, supported and/or established around the turn of the century. Carnegie strongly believed that free libraries should be available to the public, and it is this belief that drives the LFL movement. These little libraries are more than just boxes of books - they are a community adhesive, bringing people together to share ideas, stories, and moments of creativity, as well as to inspire a sense of excitement about where they live. An important objective in creating LFLs is also to promote literacy and a love of reading among people of all ages, backgrounds, and economic conditions. They promote the democratic belief that everyone, no matter who they are or where they come from, should have access to free public information.

Laurie, Nina, and Satenig will begin in the center of Yerevan with a goal of building 15 LFL’s. Once the LFL’s are created they will need to be filled with books. We would like to ask you to please donate if you have any books lying around. We will take books of any language. If you’re interested in donating books to this project, send an email to lalvandian@gmail.com. You can also drop your books off at the Birthright Armenia office.

The address is:

37 Hanrapetutyan St.

(entrance on Melik-Adamyan Street)

0010 Yerevan, Armenia.

The LFL movement is now in its 6th year. As of January 2015, the total number of registered LFL’s worldwide is estimated to be 25,000, with over 40 countries involved.  Armenia will now be joining this movement! It’s time to build the first փոքր անվճար գրադարան.

To find out more about LFL’s, you can visit www.littlefreelibrary.org.

Laurie Alvandian is an Armenian-American born and raised in New Jersey. After realizing that she spent all her time in the library playing with the books, she decided to become a librarian. Since volunteering with Birthright Armenia in 2014, she has permanently relocated to Armenia and wishes to spread her love of books all over the country through the Little Free Library movement.

Nina Romá Agvanian is an American-born Spanish-Armenian raised in both Boston and Spain. During her time volunteering with Birthright Armenia in 2014, she worked as a Trauma Consultant at the Women’s Support Center. She recently earned her Master’s degree in Human Rights from Yerevan State University. She lives in Yerevan.

Satenig Mirzoyan was born in the U.S. but has spent most of her life in Armenia. She returned to the U.S. in 2009 to attend the University of Michigan, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in International Studies. Her hobbies include snapping beautiful pictures of her homeland and learning to play the kanun. She now divides her time between the U.S. and Armenia.