SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
You've probably seen those free book boxes around town where you can take a book or leave one, or maybe a CD by BJ Leiderman, who writes our theme music. Many of them are associated with a nonprofit organization called Little Free Library, and its mission is to expand access to books and inspire reading. The group's new CEO, Daniel Gumnit, says he wants to prepare the organization for the future. What does that mean? NPR's Andrew Limbong has been finding out.
ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: There are over 200,000 Little Free Libraries around the world in 120 countries, on all seven continents - yes, including Antarctica. And according to Gumnit, the function of a box isn't just to house a book. A box also...
DANIEL GUMNIT: Builds community around the love of reading, improves literacy and is generally just a wonderful thing for anybody who loves a great story.
LIMBONG: Oftentimes, these book boxes look just like little houses, you know, with an angled roof to keep the rain from getting in. Other times, the people who set them up go wild with it, making them look like ladybugs or submarines or little Minions. It's all a quaintly analog affair. So what does it mean to bring this company into the future?
GUMNIT: We have to talk about reading in the analog environment and in the digital environment. And I believe we need to meet people where they are. And if they're reading in a digital environment, then we need to make it easier for them to do that.
LIMBONG: When we talked, Gumnit was only a few weeks on the job, and so he was just starting to think about what this could look like. But he reflected on his past experience working at a shelter for families without homes.
GUMNIT: And many of these kids had zero books but somewhere in the family was a phone. And that was a really strong lifeline or connection between us and these families.
LIMBONG: Now, I don't know about you, but for me, a part of the joy of reading is to get away from my phone. And so I asked Gumnit if this very idea was antithetical to the stated goals of Little Free Library. And he said he wanted to push the company to think about literacy beyond providing access to books.
GUMNIT: It's not just having access to the words and the reading. But it's the interaction between an older person and a younger person or two people and the reading. So what my dream would be is that the work we do, even if we're delivering it digitally, is that we're promoting parents or adults reading with children.
LIMBONG: Don't worry, the physical book boxes aren't going anywhere. People love these things. Gumnit's job is to try and find another outlet to channel that love.
Andrew Limbong, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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