Little Free Library is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization[1] that promotes neighborhood book exchanges, usually in the form of a public bookcase.

[10] Bol shared his idea with his partner, Rick Brooks, and together they built and installed more of the bookhouses in different areas of the Midwestern United States.

The organization relies on volunteer "stewards" to construct, install, and maintain book exchange boxes.

For a book exchange box to be registered and legally use the Little Free Library brand name, stewards must purchase a finished book exchange, a kit or, for a DIY project, a charter sign,[26] which contains the "Little Free Library" text and official charter number.

[34] Little Free Libraries are typically welcomed by communities; if zoning problems arise, local governments often work with residents to find solutions.

[35] However, in August 2013, the village approved a new ordinance that specifically allowed Little Free Library boxes to be put up on private property.

[39] The family of Spencer Collins, the nine-year-old boy who built the structure, created a Facebook page to support the amendment of Leawood's city code.

[41] In July, the city council unanimously approved a temporary moratorium to permit Little Free Libraries on private property.

[45] In the August/September 2022 issue of Reason magazine, reporter Christian Britschgi wrote on Little Free Library's impact as part of a movement against cumbersome and overreaching zoning regulations in the United States: The fact that a single three-feet-by-three-feet box of books can be illegal in two different ways illustrates the uphill battle homeowners can face when trying to set up their own libraries.

The reams of rules governing what can go where in America's single-family neighborhoods set endless traps for unwary librarians...

But unlike most things tripped up by zoning regulations, Little Free Libraries have an impressive record of besting the rules imposed on them.

As the country slowly rethinks the wisdom of laws restricting density and commercial activity in staid residential neighborhoods, Little Free Libraries may be leading the way.