A Little Library: Cheri Macauley at TEDxCalgary

Cheri in 180 seconds talks about the transformative power of little actions that create community like creating a one-book library in front of her house.

So, one thing, one thing for Calgary.
This is a thing that I'm doing

as part of my three things for Calgary,
my husband and I actually,

and we decided that a fun thing to do
in our neighbourhood would be

to install a little free library.
Now, a little free library, this is not our idea.

We stole it from the web,
from this lovely website called

littlefreelibrary.org

I encourage you all to go there
and see the wonderful stuff that

Todd Bol and Rick Brooks are doing.

It started down in Wisconsin,
it's spreading across the world, it's magic!

So, we got this idea from these guys,
built this little free library in the winter time

and installed it in our front yard.

So, down at the base of our front yard,
right where the yard meets the sidewalk,

we've added a red box, a little bigger
than a bread box, full of books.

And we thought that
when we put this out here,

that if all that happen was
neighbours came by

and they screwed up their courage
to take a book eventually

and maybe occasionally drop a book off

to share with each other,
that would be pretty cool.

Wow! We had no idea!

So much more than that!

So, what we actually discovered is that
we've created this incredible public space

right on the sidewalk, in front of our yard.

We get people coming by every day, all day long.

We love to watch them with binoculars
out of the window, like birdwatching!

(Laughter)

So, we've got people coming by on their bikes,
we've got people pushing strollers,

we've got kids coming by after school,

we've got all kinds of people
stopping by everyday.

And they're talking to us,
when Rob and I are in the front yard,

but they are also talking to each other,

so this little box of books has become
a community bumping space,

a little community meeting place
for everybody right on the sidewalk,

in the middle of Brentwood,
and we're thrilled about that.

One of the most incredible things
that's happened is

we've had complete strangers come

─ and you saw Cindy's "Please disturb"
door hanger sign in the last video ─

complete strangers come ring
our door bell to talk to us

about the little free library.
Think about that!

Complete strangers ring our door bell
to have a conversation.

It's a wonderful, wonderful ice breaker.

So, but why am I up here today?
I want to talk to you about

why it's important to meet today
and all the work I do

around my neighbourhood
and across the city;

I see people that are really, really hungry
for a sense of connection

and for a sense of community belonging

and I think coming on the heels
of all the presenters today,

I don't need to tell you why that's important.

But an incredible thing I learned
a couple of weeks ago was

when the Calgary Foundation released
their Vital Signs survey for 2012,

they told us that only 60% of Calgarians
feel a sense of community belonging.

Think about that. Only 60%!

That's not a great number and when I tell you
that 64% of Albertans and 66% of Canadians

feel that sense of belonging,

we're significantly behind the rest of Alberta
and the rest of Canada, in the city of Calgary.

Now, that number is going up,
it needs to go higher. 60% is not great.

Room for improvement.

So, what I want to ask you all to do today is
think about ways that we can all bring

that number up across the city;
it's very, very important

and if the little free library
has taught Rob and I nothing,

it's taught us that the small, small things
can have a big impact

far beyond what we realize

and you got to put it out there
and see what comes back to you.

Thanks very much!
(Applause)