Nov. 11--Vandals apparently don't like little free libraries in Hinsdale.
Two of the boxes that allow neighbors to borrow books from them free of charge were vandalized Friday. One was located in the 500 block of S. Garfield St. The others, a box for adult books and one for children's books, are in the 600 block of Lakeside Drive in the Golfview Hills subdivision in unincorporated Hinsdale.
"It looks like someone heaved their shoulder into it or kicked it to the ground," said Carolyn Burger of the box that lay in a shambles in her Garfield Street yard Saturday.
Hinsdale Deputy Chief Mark Wodka said Monday the department had received a report about the vandalism.
The yellow box that mimics the look of their home was a project that Burger's 9-year-old daughter, Annika Giersbach, spearheaded because she loves to read. She, and her family, of course, are dismayed by the destruction.
"I don't know who doesn't like libraries," Burger said.
Two boxes owned by Cathy Walsh on Lakeside Drive also were vandalized Friday and once previously, on Oct. 17. She said she reported the destruction on both occasions to the DuPage County Sheriff's Department.
Walsh said their green boxes were built by her 91-year-old father.
The pint-size structures are part of the Little Free Library movement that is spreading across the nation. It started in 2009 in Wisconsin when a man built a small replica of a schoolhouse in honor of his mother who was a teacher. He filled it with books and posted a note for his neighbors inviting them to take a book.
The Little Free Library movement, which has a Web site, littlefreelibrary.org, was inspired by other similar movements including Andrew Carnegie's philanthropy that helped establish free public libraries around the turn of the 19th century and by take a book, leave a book collections in cafes and train stations.
Burger and Walsh said they were upset about the damage to their property, and find it hard to believe the destruction was random because the it occurred on the same night and because their homes are not close to each other.
Walsh said she's never received any complaints about the box.
"Mine gets a lot of use. It's a subdivision, neighborhoody thing," Walsh said.
Burger said she plans to put the library up again, and that a neighbor who was disappointed by the destruction has offered to help.
"It's in smithereens. But it's rebuildable," Burger said.
Walsh has already put her boxes up again.
"I'm not giving in," she said.
