Ever heard of a talking library? The Wichita Public Library now has 26 of them

What should someone do who wants to read a book for free?

“I think in a lot of ways, the easy answer is just go to your public library,” said Jaime Nix, director of libraries for the Wichita Public Library.

Except that’s not always the easiest answer for everyone, she said.

That’s why the library has created a pilot program with a $10,000 grant from Evergy to build and place 26 little free libraries — one for each letter of the alphabet — throughout City Council District 3.

That’s southeast Wichita, from Planeview up to Linwood Park and Hydraulic over to South Oliver.

“It’s a community that has very low reading skills,” Nix said.

She said a significant portion of that community is not, for whatever reason, going to the library.

The Wichita Literacy Coalition identified the area of need, which has lower incomes and fewer licensed child care providers.

Part of the point of the program is to have little libraries serve as a bridge to the bigger ones.

The Dr. Ronald W. Walters Branch Library opened in the district in 2021, and Nix wants people to know it’s there along with “what kind of world of imagination is out there in all the books.”

Nix said the little libraries are popular in many communities, including around Wichita where people have installed them in their own yards.

For the library system, she said the question was, “What can we do to make these more popular?”

That’s where the alphabet comes in.

When people open the doors to each little library, there will be a solar-powered audio component “just to give it a little more flair,” Nix said.

Think of the popular children’s toy barn that goes, “Moo,” when its stable doors are opened.

Each one of the 26 lettered libraries will offer both letter recognition and the sounds of those letters.

For instance, Nix said when kids open the door to the letter A library, “It’s also telling you words that start with (the) letter A and also the sound they make.”

She said the recognition and sound are critical components for getting children ready to read.

Evergy volunteers, with guidance from CityArts, are painting the libraries.

Friends of the Wichita Public Library are stocking the libraries with new books. Hutton built the libraries and is installing them. And an engineering team from Wichita State University helped with the technical aspect of creating the sounds for when the doors open.

The idea is hopefully children will visit each of the different lettered libraries.

Anyone can use the libraries, and anyone can stock them with their own books, too.

“It’s (a) take-a-book and leave-a-book kind of principle,” Nix said.

The books don’t have to be exclusively children’s books. Nix said there will be parenting books as well, such as ones helping parents help their kids to read.

There will be a ribbon cutting for the libraries at the 10:45 a.m. mayoral briefing at Lincoln Park on Thursday, and Hutton will install the libraries in the next couple of weeks.

Nix’s goal is eventually to have 26 libraries in each of Wichita’s six districts. She said it takes $25,000 to build and feed 26 libraries for a year.

“We’re looking for donations always.”

Donations can be made through the library or at the Wichita Public Library Foundation website.

Nix said the program is all about access to quality, diverse materials because more access to books equals more enthusiasm for reading.

The libraries will be at apartment complexes, homes, nonprofits and businesses.

Nix compared the idea of so many libraries to being like all the miniature versions of the Keeper of the Plains statues that can be seen around town at businesses and homes.

“What might it look like if early learning supports were as prevalent as . . . Keeper of the Plains?” she said.

“The collective impact we can all have with this I think can be really fruitful.”