Indianapolis's Tiny Libraries Make Our Hearts Happy

Courtesy of The Public Collection

We're calling it now: Book worms are going to start flocking to Indianapolis, Indiana once they get wind of this series of artist-designed "book stations." This free network of books-on-loan is known as The Public Collection and was created to help improve literacy and foster an appreciation of the arts in the community — how's that for killing two birds with one stone?

The project lead, Rachel M. Simon, invited different artists from the community to design unique miniature libraries in order to represent a variety of styles and cultures. From there, once a design is chosen, completed, and installed, it's stocked with books by the Indianapolis Public Library. But there's one big difference from your usual library: You don't have to check the books out — meaning people can read at their leisure. And once you finish your pick, you can return it to any of the stations in the collection. 

The most recent addition was from Kimberly McNeelan and was installed at White River State Park. It features a cave-like shape that creates a canopy space, offering shelter for the books (and the readers) from the elements: 

Courtesy of The Public Collection

Take a look at a few more of the stations:

The Public Collection

Courtesy of The Public Collection

The Public Collection

The Public Collection

[via Inhabitat

By Lauren Smith