Julien St-Jean
Sheenboro July 12, 2021
While Geoff Murphy was growing up, his father Harry was always willing to give books to anyone interested.
“He always imposed the importance of books on us,” said Geoff. “Anyone who was interested in a book, he just told them, ‘take it.’”
Taking this page from his father’s book, Geoff decided to build a “take a book, leave a book” library in Sheenboro.
Located near the transfer station, Harry’s Biblio serves as a place for Sheenboro residents and cottagers to leave books and DVDs for others to use. Geoff built a compartment in the top so that toys can be left for the area’s children.
“Anything that fits in there and could go to someone else, I think that’s a great use for it,” he said.
Geoff had previously built a “take a book, leave a book” library in his Ottawa neighbourhood. After seeing the popularity, he figured he should build another near his Sheenboro cottage.
“There’s quite a few in Ottawa and it’s amazing how popular they are,” said Geoff. “Because libraries were closed, it became extremely useful.”
Geoff hopes the community will use the library and that others will pop up in the area. “I think that over time, now that people know it’s there, people will start using it,” he said.
