Little Free Library coming to Wilber Park

Jun. 24—Wilber Park in Oneonta will soon have a Little Free Library.

Anne DeSimone said she approached the city parks department during the winter about placing a Little Free Library near the Applebaugh Garden in Wilber Park.

"There's a lovely walkway as well as a bench nearby," DeSimone said.

The library was designed and built to look like the caboose at Neahwa Park. She said it took her and her husband a couple of weeks to build the library.

"We had a lot of fun designing and building it," she said.

The library will hold adult and children's books. She said she collaborated with the Huntington Memorial Library and received many books from the library. She said the library has "limited shelf space and when they receive new books others are discarded and stored in the basement. This is a win-win."

In addition to receiving books from the library, DeSimone said she went to local thrift stores to buy children's books, and said many gave her discounts on the books.

"This was a community effort," she said. "Without the support of the library or parks department, we wouldn't have gotten this done."

She also entered a contest through ABC's Good Morning America and "We just found out we were picked," she said.

Through the contest, the morning show awards two brand new books to little free libraries across the country, she said. "We will get them June 28, just in time for the opening," she said. The picture of the little free library will also be on the show, she said.

According to a media release, the library will open at 1 p.m. on Friday, July 1. She said representatives from the parks department will be there and she will talk about her inspiration for starting the library. She said they have more books than what will fit in the library, so there will be a table with books on them for people to take. There will also be a kids' craft where they can color their own bookmark, she said.

"Its is our little way to say thank you to the community who welcomed us," she said.

DeSimone is a retired sixth grade teacher, who moved to Oneonta from Shoreham, New York.

"I always loved the mountains and knew when I retired I'd move to the mountains," she said. "I love Oneonta."

She said while she was teaching she could tell when children didn't read over summer vacation. She said on the last day of school every year, she would give each student a book to read during the summer. "Reading over the summer is the most important thing a child can do to keep up with their skills," she said.

She encourages everyone to visit the little free library, whether they have books to donate or not.

"I don't want people to feel like they have to donate a book when they take a book," she said. "People can take a book, read it and may bring it back or keep it. I know when I grew up, I treasured my own little bookshelf in my bedroom."

She said she also created a Facebook page for the Applebaugh Garden Little Free Library and hopes people will read a book from the library and write a review on the book they read.

Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221.