MILWAUKEE — Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library is a volunteer organization that supports the library through fundraising and advocacy. It also aims to expand access to books in all neighborhoods of the city.

Jeffrey Moore is the manager of The Bookseller, a small used bookstore run by Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library. The store is nestled within the Milwaukee Central Library downtown.

A big part of Moore’s day is filling boxes with 30 to 50 books. For only $5 a box, anyone can come and purchase them to fill Little Free Libraries throughout the city. The money raised is used to support library services. 

“It’s funny,” Moore said. “A lot of the Little Free Library people coming to pick up their boxes are like, ‘We never knew this existed,’ and so I’ve been asking them to spread the word and let other people know we are here. I really do think we are seeing more people now that we’ve gotten the word out.”

A Facebook post highlighting the offer got more than 25,000 views. In the next 24 hours, The Bookseller received 30 orders for boxes of books. 

Katy Kujala-Korpela came to buy four boxes. She said she loves using her neighborhood’s Little Free Library with her kids. 

“The least thing we can do is put books out into the community for kids to walk down their street and grab a book,” said Kujala-Korpela. 

She said it offers another lesson as well: The importance of giving new life to older things. 

“It’s a great opportunity to show kids recycling, too,” she said. “Like passing things on and not just holding onto them forever.”

Moore said in the two months of doing this, he’s already gotten some amazing feedback. 

“We have heard back from people that say their kids are reading more,” he said. “It’s hard for the family to give up the books to the Little Free Libraries because their kids want them.”