Harold Greenfield has a message for patrons of his little free library: Your books are overdue.
Last year the longtime Wallingford resident put up a dollhouse-sized replica of a one-room schoolhouse and stocked it with books to share with the neighborhood.
“I cleared out most of my guest room bookshelf to launch it,” he said, noting the collection included paperbacks from James Patterson, Tom Clancy, Steig Larson, Michael Crichton, and John Grisham. “I wanted some diversity in there, so I think there was an Amy Tan book or two in there as well.”
The handpainted structure also offered nonfiction and reference books, including a Sunset Magazine Gardening book for California and Arizona, “The Bread Machine Cookbook,” and a 2003 edition of “What Color is Your Parachute?”
Within a few months, Greenfield noticed troubling gaps in his shelves as people weren’t returning the books they borrowed. In many cases, they were bringing back completely different books.
“I first noticed it with a copy of ‘Yoga for Pregnancy.’ That’s definitely not mine,” the 44-year-old bachelor explained. Then the new books just kept coming: “The LSAT Unlocked, 3rd Edition,” a dozen copies of The New Yorker magazines from scattered dates in 2017 (each with the address label neatly clipped out), and a well-thumbed copy of Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” stamped with “Property of Oberlin College Libraries” on the inside cover.
At press time, Greenfield was considering new measures to maintain the integrity of his collection.
“I may start a sign-out sheet where people promise to return the books within three weeks or pay a nominal fine,” he suggested. “I might even have them sign up for an ID card with a number to make it easier to track who has what – it’s the least people could do for free library services.”
