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A sanitary little library created for Peachland residents during pandemic

Rona Nadeau said she wanted to swap books with other readers in the area

A Peachland resident has set up a little free library for her neighbourhood.

Rona Nadeau said she’s a big reader and once she went through her stack of library books, she began to worry.

“Just before all this happened, I had picked up a good selection of books from the library so I was pretty well stocked at the beginning, but that was in early March… and so I started to think ‘hey, maybe there are other people around who would be interested in swapping some books’,” she said.

She found a display case in her house that she then set up just outside and filled with books. Nadeau posted about the little free library on a Peachland group, where she said several of her neighbours saw it and became interested.

“Someone replied to my post in the group and said she’s always wanted to put together something like this as well, so I encouraged her to do it. There are so many areas here in Peachland that we can do it.”

She hasn’t seen any other free libraries like hers in town, so it may well be the first in Peachland. Nadeau said besides wanting to fill her reading needs, she was inspired by others who put up free libraries in Winnipeg. With people spending more time at home, she said now seemed like the right time to set it up.

She’s encouraging people to take a book and if they have one they want to share, to place it in the bookcase.

Nadeau added she regularly sanitizes the shelf and the books.

“Just treat it like anything else that you’re bringing into your home at this time. Bring it in and do what it is you do: use Lysol wipes, do that. It’s all about just taking care of yourself, sanitizing your own hands and things you’re bringing home the very same way.”

The little free library is on the corner of Thompson Drive and Forest Hill Drive.

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Twila Amato
Video journalist, Black Press Okanagan
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Twila Amato

About the Author: Twila Amato

Twila was a radio reporter based in northern Vancouver Island. She won the Jack Webster Student Journalism Award while at BCIT and received a degree in ancient and modern Greek history from McGill University.
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