If you don’t look twice, you may just miss it.
It’s a little brown bookcase, about seven feet tall, filled with hardcover and paperback alike. It rests against the wall of the Reitz Union stairs, waiting diligently for someone to browse its 19 shelves.
It’s what the Reitz Union Board of Managers calls a “Free Library,” a collection of free books for students read, share or add to.
“I honestly don’t go to the Reitz that much, so it’s a really nice surprise,” said Anael Mamane, a 21-year old UF industrial engineering junior. “It makes me really happy that people not only take the books, they also give one back.”
The library cost about $850 to build and was built from plywood with an oak veneer and constructed by two to three people in 120 hours, said Mike Mironack, the Reitz Union’s director of operations and the project’s manager. It was installed Jan. 2.
The library had about 40 books to start with, Mironack said. The collection increased to 93 books Tuesday morning.
“Once people got word that it was up, it took off doing what it was supposed to do,” Mironack said.
The books on the shelf — which included titles such as “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” and authors such as Carl Hiaasen, James Patterson and Tom Clancy — were supplied by various people, including students and staff, Mironack said.
A free outlet for books is an impressive feature to have, said Orestes Gonzalez, a 22-year-old UF history junior, upon his first visit to the bookshelf.
“As a community here at UF, it’s really important that we just try to connect with each other,” Gonzalez said. “Having a bookshelf here at the Reitz Union is just the perfect way of doing that.”
Follow River Wells on Twitter @riverhwells and contact him at rwells@alligator.org.
The Reitz Union’s free library opened Jan. 2 and can be used by anyone. It includes titles from authors such as Tom Clancy, Anthony Horowitz, Carl Hiaasen and James Patterson.
