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We seem to be publishing an inordinate number of stories about libraries and drop boxes here at Shareable.

Now comes an item that combines the two, and it's cute: When the good people of Westbury-sub-Mendip in Somerset lost their bookmobile service, they bought a decommissioned telephone booth and repurposed it as a drop-in library. The BBC reports:

Villagers… can use the library around the clock, selecting books, DVDs and CDs.

Users simply stock it with a book they have read, swapping it for one they have not.

"It's really taken off. The books are constantly changing," said parish councillor Bob Dolby. He added: "It is completely full at the moment with books. Anyone is free to come and take a book and leave one that you have already read. This facility has turned a piece of street furniture into a community service in constant use."

A resident dreamed up the idea when the village lost its phone box and mobile library in quick succession.

Westbury-sub-Mendip Parish Council bought the phone box from BT in a national scheme for a token £1.

BT has received 770 applications for communities to 'adopt a kiosk', and so far 350 boxes have been handed over to parish councils. Phone boxes have been turned into art installations, a shower and even a public toilet.

Imagine what the villagers could do with TARDIS technology!

Jeremy Adam Smith

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeremy Adam Smith

Jeremy Adam Smith is the editor who helped launch Shareable.net. He's the author of The Daddy Shift (Beacon Press, June 2009); co-editor of The Compassionate Instinct (W.W. Norton


Things I share: Mainly babysitting with other parents! I also share all the transportation I can, through bikes and buses and trains and carpooling.