I hired a handy man to build one of these in front of my house a year ago and it has been a great project. In fact, I use it as a motivation to go out on bike rides in the city. What I do is take a chunk of books from my place, go to the next mini-library swap them for a chunk of those books, go to the next mini library, rinse and repeat. I've become familiar with about a dozen of these within a few miles. I know which ones have books that move quickly, which ones are slow, which ones are sources (oversupply), which ones are sinks (high demand for books there). Which ones are good to bring kids books to, etc. I've also found local bookstores where I can get extra free books. I often strike up interesting conversations with people. For example, one time I met a guy who ended up giving me half of his entire book collection because he was moving to the country and couldn't keep everything. It took a while for me to get that collection to the neighboring libraries, there were so many!

Pointers: If you're going to build one of these, don't make them too deep! A foot deep is actually sufficient, I think. Not more than 14 inches. Multiple levels are great. My favorite mini library has 4 levels: a pretty tall bottom level -- some books are tall! -- and then gradually shorter as you get to the top one which you can fit paperbacks into. Also, quantity: It's nice to have a little free space so people feel they can leave books. You can put one or more books facing forward so the full front cover is viewable. This also makes the library more attractive. Too many books is not good. Then it's hard move them around to find things. Also, a jumble is no good, I like to keep it pretty well arranged. If there are extra books, I just bring them inside for my next bike trip.

Have fun!