The Bright Lights Book Project: All the News that’s fit to Print
Contributed by Alys Culhane
The focus of the Bright Lights Book Project has always been on re-use, with, of course, an initial emphasis on books. We quickly figured out that cardboard is also a re-use item. The books that we take in often come with lids, which makes them unwieldy. So BLPB board members and volunteers transfer incoming boxed books to lidless boxes, which makes the books easier to sort.
We’re currently getting the bulk of our books from Title Wave Books in Anchorage. They need boxes, so we give them the ones with lids. Boxes, like books, also have a shelf life, so we pass ripped, torn, and tattered boxes on to VCRS for recycling.
We also save packing material and stuff it around boxes of books going to villages.
Our most imaginative use of a re-use item is newspaper boxes; you know the kind that used to grace every streetcorner in America. Like phone booths and the advent of cellphones, newspaper boxes pretty much disappeared with the advent of web-based newspapers.
Two years ago, I had an idea that I ran past Sutton resident Carol McNamara. I suggested that we have kids paint them, fill them with books, then put them in sites accessible to appreciative readers. I added that we could have those on hand for a kids’ day at the Sutton Library decorate the boxes. Carol said that this was a wonderful idea.
The Frontiersman Newspaper initially donated three newspaper boxes to the cause. Pete (husband) and I took two of them. There were many, many more newspaper boxes behind the main building. Over time, the very accommodating staff provided us with several more boxes.
I learned that you don’t just acquire a newspaper box and put books in it. Nothing in life is ever that easy. Pete, who is very hands on, told me what to do. I prepped the outside of the boxes by first washing, then sanding them. I then applied a primer coat, using paint acquired from the Mat-Su Borough Landfill Re-use Shop.
I subsequently discovered that the inside of the boxes are newspaper rather than book. If, say, you put books directly on the flat inner plate, the weight of the books causes it to drop. In the book project biz, it’s who you know. Bill Schmidtkunz, the owner of Matanuska Woodworks made wood inserts for the boxes. Pete then loosened one of the springs holding the front door, so it won’t pinch a child’s hand.
The 2022 Sutton Kids’ Library Day dawned bright and clear. I brought my dog and pack pony, and talked about how packhorses were used in the 30s and 40s to distribute books. Lois Liebing, a retired elementary school teacher, then read the kids The Bibliographic Burro. Next, the kids, in groups of two, painted the boxes. The completed boxes had gardening and outer space themes.
This was the beginning of a most amazing re-use venture, one in which supposedly defunct newspaper boxes were repurposed. Our first two boxes were a mainstay at the 2022 Alaska State Fair; we put one in the Eckert Garden and filled it with gardening books. We put the other in front of the VCRS Recycling Center booth and filled it with children’s books. Every few days, we restocked the shelves.
At the conclusion of the fair, we removed the boxes. The Jonesville General Store in Sutton acquired the VCRS Recycling Center box and Palmer resident Pam Hyuck acquired the Eckert Garden box for a neighborhood tiny library.
We were also a presence at the 2023 Alaska State Fair. We had five newly painted newspaper boxes in place on opening day, and we stocked these on a near daily basis. We placed them outside the 4-H/Hodgkins Building, in the Eckert Garden, next to the Agricultural Building Petting Zoo, inside the Mat Su College Cabin and the beside the queen bee exhibit at the Bee Booth. My artistic contribution took the form of a yellow beehive, although my bees looked more like ants than bees.
Pete and I stocked the Bee Booth, Eckert Garden, and Mat-Su College boxes daily. And the Winner’s Circle 4-H Club regularly stocked the Petting Zoo and 4-H Hodgkins Building boxes.
We retrieved the newspaper boxes at the conclusion of the fair. The Mat-Su College box went back into storage. Pam reclaimed the Eckert Garden Box. The Petting Zoo box was adopted by Kid’s Kupboard in Wasilla. The Hodgkins/4-H box is now a South Bailey Street fixture.
I’d be remiss if I failed to mention the fate of several non-fair boxes. Jessie Herbert (who painted the Petting Zoo and 4-H boxes) painted the box that now graces Outreach Horizon Homes. She took interior decorating one step further, so this box now has two shelves.
The students at Colony Middle School are now working on two additional boxes. And a painted newspaper box with a space/reading theme is located outside Swanson Elementary School on Gulkana Street.
Those wishing to turn a newspaper box into a little library should check out this website: www.littlefreelibrary.org.