NORTHAMPTON – To help bring reading to families that may not have the time to head to the library or purchase books for their children, the Forbes and Lilly Libraries in Northampton are working to bring book boxes to neighborhoods throughout the community.

Maria Sperduti, Forbes Library’s outreach delivery service coordinator, said the idea came from seeing book boxes in other communities and understanding the resources available to both libraries.

“It came from me seeing book boxes around in different communities and thinking that we have access to discarded books, and we have the volunteers and the resources to collaborate with Lily Library and do this,” she said.

Sperduti said the book boxes will be refurbished newspaper boxes and will contain a variety of reading materials for people of all ages to take completely free of charge to keep at home.

Before the project can get under way Sperduti said the libraries are waiting on the first round of refurbished newspaper boxes to be delivered.

“We have our first five refurbished newspaper boxes on order, and we probably are looking at maybe late October to mid-November. We are waiting for the boxes to come; we are waiting to finalize the messages that will be attached to the boxes along with the artwork. We are also still organizing the volunteers so there is still quite a bit to do,” she said.

With the book boxes offering free materials to keep, Sperduti said she hopes people feel comfortable taking books home to own.

“The other piece of this that is really important to me is that people feel comfortable keeping the materials that they take from the book box so they can build their own libraries. So, they can keep the books, give them away or pass them on, they do not need to return them at all,” she said.

Once the boxes are in place, Sperduti said a volunteer will be working to maintain each one.

“The book boxes will be refurbished newspaper boxes and the hope is that we will have one volunteer assigned to one box, restocking, cleaning, removing snow and visiting the boxes every week,” she said.

One of the goals for the boxes is to offer reading materials for people of all ages.

“We are really excited about being able to offer children’s books and teen books as well as adult books and large print books. We are hoping there will be something in the box for everyone,” Sperduti said. “I’m most excited about families, people of all ages and reading abilities being able to access free books without the concern of having to return them by a specific date or specific condition.”

Sperduti said she is also excited to bring the library to children and families that do not have the time or money to make a trip to the bookstore or the library.

“I am also really excited about children being able to have their own little libraries in their homes and having collections of children’s books. Not every family can afford children’s books and not every family has the time to get the library, so we are hoping to bring the library to them and develop a love for reading,” she said.

Since announcing the project, Sperduti said the business community has been interested in hosting boxes throughout the city.

“Forbes and Lilly Library support it completely and there has been an amazing amount of positive feedback from the business community in Northampton as well, so we are developing collaborations with different organizations that want to host our boxes on their property,” she said.

Anyone interested in hosting one of the book boxes can call the Forbes Library’s outreach office at 587-1019.