By Grace Murphy
Staff Writer
A pair of students at the College worked together to bring two free little libraries to campus, where students can donate or take books whenever they want. The libraries are located in between the Brower Student Center and the Social Sciences Building, and near the Campus Town bus stop, and are consistently filled with new books.
Kat Jorgensen, a junior English major, and David Roberts, a senior political science major, combined their shared love for literature and the resources they had from their honor societies to bring the idea to life. The two were inspired by the little libraries in their hometowns that they would often use.
“We used to drive along the shore and restock little libraries with our favorite books,” Roberts said. “When we came back to [the College] after summer break, we thought to ourselves, ‘How come we don't have a little library here?’”
As Jorgensen is the vice president of Sigma Tau Delta, the National English Honor Society, and Roberts is the president of Pi Sigma Alpha, the Political Science Honor Society, they looked to their respective organizations for support. The two honor societies largely helped with the financial aspect, and their faculty offered input on the locations and logistics of implementing the libraries.
After writing grant proposals and advocating for their idea, they were approved for full funding and were given a $900 grant from the honor societies. The two organizations also came together and sponsored the initial opening, in which they helped organize the event and the book collecting, in order to fulfill the pair’s goal. The unveiling of the libraries welcomed students to donate books to fill the libraries, and let students enjoy some light refreshments to celebrate the newly finished project.
“The main purpose of the two little free libraries is to spread free, accessible literature throughout our campus, and remove financial barriers to reading for our community,” Jorgensen said.
The library in Campus Town was placed near the bus stop in an effort to expand this project beyond the College and allow for anyone to take or leave a book. Rather than just students, anyone in the Ewing community who may take the bus or does not want to walk through the heart of campus can be included in their project.
They have also seen other little libraries placed around Ewing, Hopewell and Trenton, and would like to hold another regional book drive in the future, this time with a goal of redistributing the new books to these other nearby libraries.
“We are both extremely thankful to be able to contribute to our campus community in our own little way, and we hope that these free books can make a positive impact,” said Jorgensen.
