A Community-wide initiative is underway to restore Fort Wayne’s Little Free Libraries

The Rotary Impact Club needs the help of Fort Wayne community members to help them gather data to revitalize Little Free Libraries all across Allen County and beyond.

Over a decade ago, Rotary Club of Fort Wayne President Candace Schuler was a strong advocate for literacy.  She sought to increase the community’s access to books by offering a smaller, more intimate opportunity to share her love of literacy in a setting that was comfortable for the public. That’s where the Impact Library Program comes in: a national initiative to provide Little Free Libraries across the United States, within communities, to reach children and adults who may not have access to books or to their communities. Providing Little Free Libraries in rural and even robust communities has shown a 92% increase in children having access to more books, and 75% of the Little Free Libraries are serving 30% more children than local libraries, according to a survey done by The Education Foundation of Baltimore County Public Schools in September 2024.  

Schuler coordinated with a variety of organizations around town to build and install Little Free Libraries in neighborhoods, church parking lots, and across the community, filling them with books for everyone to enjoy.

Now, there are over 90 free libraries scattered over Allen County, with another 30 outside of Fort Wayne, reaching all the way to Huntington. 

“While the Allen County Libraries [are] an incredible resource to the community, the Little Free Library is much smaller [and] more intimate opportunities to share books and literacy across the community,” says Michael Weber, the Rotary’s Impact Club President, which is a newer offshoot of the older Rotary Club of Fort Wayne. The Impact Club was created to focus on more local services with monthly evening meetings to better accommodate a younger generation. 

Their current project is revisiting the Little Free Library project Schuler initiated a decade ago. The libraries were not designed to last indefinitely, which is why the Rotary Impact Club is working to understand the restoration needs of each library. The club is using three main factors to determine the cost and maintenance each library needs for the next step in the revitalization project.

The first factor is the overall current physical condition of each library. The Rotary Club has received reports that some of the libraries are in poor condition. After ten years of being in northern Indiana’s weather, some libraries are in worse shape than others. Weber explains that many need repairs, and some need to be rebuilt altogether.

“Some of the libraries might need a little bit of a paint job. Some might need new books to be put in them to restock them,” he says, adding that the second factor his team is considering is whether the libraries are stocked well with higher-quality books. 

“If you got a lot of dollar store books in there, that’s not going to really excite anyone by any means,” Weber says. 

The third factor is the library’s level of community usage. While some are used regularly, others may not be used as frequently as originally anticipated. 

“I would love to believe every single one is receiving a lot of attention and love, [but] some are not used as much as maybe we originally envisioned.”

But, with the community’s help, Weber hopes that answering these three questions will determine the necessary energy and money required for repairs.

“The number one goal is we have to figure out which ones are being used because those are the ones that will determine what needs the most attention,” Weber shares. “We only have so much energy and money we can bring together to make this happen.”

But to know which libraries need attention, the Rotary Impact Club is asking the community of Fort Wayne to find a nearby Little Free Library and report on its status on a survey link. This crowdsourcing approach is essential for surveying all the libraries efficiently. It also helps the Rotary Impact Club understand the financials needed to repair these endearing book homes across Allen County.

Once the data is analyzed, the Club intends to re-engage with community members who completed the survey, asking if they would like to help with the rehabilitation efforts. Weber hopes to aggregate all the survey information and determine their next steps by the end of June. At this time, the restoration project is reaching out to original hosts and sponsors, including organizations like the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

Community members can participate by visiting the survey link here. 

Find a Free Little Library near you here.