Jill Richmond stands beside a birdhouse shaped Little Free Library in front of Ringgold City Hall.Ringgold is on the path to have 10 new libraries -
Little Free Libraries.
Already there are two: one in front of Ringgold City Hall and the other at Little General Children's Park.
"Jill Richmond, a teacher at Ringgold Middle School, approached me about starting this and the [city] council approved as many as 10 going up on city property," said Ringgold Vice Mayor Nick Millwood, who has been helping get the ball rolling on the project at council meetings. "A'lisa Ratledge and her husband made the one that sits in front of City Hall, while Jill Richmond worked on the one in front of the playground."
Little Free Libraries are a community-sourced "take a book, leave a book" project that has been sweeping the nation.
Jill Richmond said she decided some were needed in Ringgold after seeing some in Chattanooga.
"To me it's a perfect fit for Ringgold to keep the community going," she said. "It could be a place to meet and kids could hang out there.
"It's the whole town of Ringgold's library."
And as a seventh-grade teacher at Ringgold Middle School, she understands the importance of reading.
"Reading is a big thing," Richmond said. "The more we can get kids to read early on, it helps them in school. I hope they use this. It will benefit everybody. Some kids stay in town all summer and go swimming. This way if they can't get to the library, they can go around the block and get a book."
She said both the Little Libraries in town hold 30-50 books and are constantly refilled.
"The libraries have John Grisham books, mystery books, Stephen King books and a little bit of everything," she said. "Every time you go you never know what will be there.
I put a couple of books in and grab another one. If you have books you are not reading, put them out in the library and give them to the community."
Richmond plans to eventually have a grand-opening party to swap books and explain what the Little Free Libraries are all about.
"It gives community ownership and we all own a piece of it," she said of the idea behind the project. "It's about being proud of where you live and doing what is right. You can give Little Libraries to people to put in their yard. Little Libraries are all over the United States. You can build one from a kit."
The Little Library at City Hall started out as a wooden planter box but resembles an urban-style birdhouse now thanks to the Ratledge family's efforts, said Richmond. They even weather-proofed it.
The one at Little General Children's Park was a circular box donated by the Chattanooga Times Free Press and the Richmond family cut out the shape of a tree around it. That box has mainly children's books in it, she said.