Improving access to books.
Reading should not begin with a form, a fee or a test of eligibility. The Foundation is currently exploring how restored telephone kiosks can offer simple, visible and welcoming access to books in the heart of a community.
The idea is deliberately uncomplicated: walk in, browse and take a book. There would be no library card, membership, charge or formal rental period. Enjoy the book, return it when you are ready, swap it for another, or pass it on so someone else can enjoy it.
Take a book. Enjoy it. Return it or pass it on. Rinse and repeat.
How the book exchange would work.
The basic cycle
Browse
Open the kiosk and see what is available—children’s books, fiction, non-fiction and local-interest material.
Take
Choose a book freely. No membership, transaction or personal information is required.
Enjoy
Read it at home, share it with family, or take it on your journey.
Return or pass on
Bring it back, replace it with another suitable book, or pass it to somebody else.
Repeat
Come back whenever you like and help keep books circulating through the community.
Small spaces can widen opportunity.
Books can support language, confidence, imagination, education and wellbeing. Yet access is not equal. Cost, distance, opening hours, membership processes or simple uncertainty can discourage people from using more formal services.
A kiosk cannot replace a public library, school or literacy service—and should never be presented as doing so. It can complement them by putting free books in an obvious, familiar place and making the first step feel easy.
Children and families
Make informal reading material visible and easy to pick up during everyday journeys.
Adult readers
Offer fiction, practical information and accessible material without embarrassment or formality.
Reuse and sharing
Keep good books in circulation and give donated books a purposeful second life.
Community connection
Create a small shared resource that local people can contribute to and care for.
What needs to happen before opening.
- Select a suitable, secure and accessible kiosk location.
- Complete adoption, land, planning or listed-building requirements.
- Clean, repair, weatherproof and safely fit out the kiosk.
- Design robust shelving, simple instructions and inclusive signage.
- Agree suitable book-donation standards and remove unsafe or inappropriate material.
- Build a varied starting collection for different ages and interests.
- Identify local stewards for regular checks, tidying and stock rotation.
- Plan safeguarding, data-free operation, insurance, accessibility and reporting.
- Measure use without creating barriers or collecting unnecessary personal information.
Once a pilot is operating, feedback can help refine the approach before it is repeated elsewhere.
How people could help.
Residents, schools, libraries, bookshops, publishers, literacy organisations and local businesses could donate good-quality books, provide shelving or materials, help organise stock, sponsor restoration, share local knowledge or volunteer as kiosk stewards.
We are particularly interested in partnerships that can help create a balanced, inclusive collection and make the service genuinely useful to people who face barriers to reading.
Discuss the literacy programme