Little Free Library pops up by Arts Center

By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com

The Little Free Library stations scattered across Iowa City gave Katy Magee an idea. Katy, an artist from Warwick, Rhode Island, had never seen the structures before she visited her sister.

“They’re dotted all over the city in neighborhoods and local parks where there’s a lot of foot traffic, and I fell in love with them,” Katy said.

So Katy, her siblings and their families got together with her father and step-mother — Jed and Betty Magee of Charles City — and made the Little Free Library into a family Christmas project last year.

On Monday morning, Jed, Betty, Katy and Katy’s son Massimo were finally able to raise the library in front of the Charles City Arts Center.

“Lots of the grandkids can come and check it out, as well as the local families,” Katy said.

The Magee Little Free Library stands out not only for it’s color — every member of the family signed the bottom of the library box, and every family member’s handprint decorates the outside. Katy’s brother-in-law, an architect in Iowa City, assembled the structure.

Charles City residents might know Katy’s work from previous installations — in 2003 and 2004, the “red chair” public art series was installed in two phases along the Cedar River front.

Now, residents can enjoy the first selection of 25 books the Magees are leaving in the Jackson Street library — feel free to take a book and leave a book behind.