To complete the visual appearance of the Little Free Library, its exterior feature decorations painted by Cullman Art Council Member Emily Bussman.

The Cullman County Library and the Friends of the Public Libraries of Cullman County are continuing to provide access to literature for the people of Cullman County after the installation of its newest Little Free Library in the city’s Art Park.

The Little Free Library non-profit organization aims to remove all barriers to book access through its global network of 24-hour “sharing boxes.”

The newest site in Art Park marks the second site installed by the library within the city of Cullman, and their sixth installation county wide, with a seventh planned to be installed in Dodge City within the coming weeks.

FPLCC boardmember Renee Walsh said that while the intended purpose of the sharing boxes is to provide access to books, that following the installation of their box — located on Rosemont Avenue — it became evident that the sites can quickly be adapted by the community for many other resources.

“The first one that we installed over on Rosemont, about two years ago this month. It was right during the pandemic, and people were putting food in there. It was just so meaningful that people recognized that need because it was highly used. It was our first one — it was a little bit larger than this one — and we were loading it up with books, and one day there was canned food, beans, and rice,” Walsh said.

Keeping this in mind, Walsh and Cullman County Library Director Sharon Townson said that the idea is to supply the box in Art Park with children’s books but that they are open and hopeful to the possibility of a future installation of a second Little Free Library in the park designed for the community to contribute and share their artwork.

Cullman Parks, Recreation and Sports Tourism Director Nathan Anderson said that — especially with the exterior of the box adorned with visual contributions from Cullman Art Council Member Emily Bussman — the installation was in line with the park’s concept. While not much more than a sapling, Anderson and Townson envision future generations enjoying the books from the Little Free Library underneath the park’s “Reading Tree.”

“Right now it’s just for short stories,” Townson said.

“This park was designed to celebrate the arts, and literary arts is one area that we are celebrating now with this Little Free Library,” Anderson said.