By Renee Larr

My Dental Care in Fishers is celebrating and promoting literacy by opening a Free Little Library. The international concept began in 2009 when Todd Bol of Hudson, Wis., built a model of a one-room schoolhouse as a tribute to his mother, a teacher who loved to read. He filled it with books and put it in his front yard. Neighbors and friends would come by to take a book and leave a book. The idea spread quickly, and there are now more than 50,000 little libraries worldwide.

“We had actually wanted to do a book exchange in the office here. We were trying to determine how we were going to set that up. We’re all readers here,” Continuing Care Coordinator Cheryl O’Bold said. “We talk about books with our patients. One of our employees saw something on the news about a Little Free Library that had gone up and it was something that was going on in the nation. We looked into it and we thought what a great idea to share not only with our patients and amongst ourselves but with the community.”

MDC did its research and decided to get started.

“We built a little one, but it was so small and unrecognizable no one knew it was there. Then an old newsstand was donated to us. We had it refurbished and turned into a Little Free Library,” O’Bold said. “We have a natural wildlife habitat behind our office. We put the little library out there so our patients and the people of the community come by to get books. It’s a great way to get people involved in reading and holding a real book.”

Anyone in the community can stop by and leave a book or take a book.

“We had some people who are just avid readers, and we’ve been collecting books from them for about a year before we got our library set up and installed. It’s a really neat thing, and I hope it draws people to come get some books,” O’Bold said.

MDC held a ribbon cutting Nov. 10. For more, visit littlefreelibrary.org.