PELHAM – Pelham Oaks Elementary School is now home to the second Little Free Library installed by the library’s Teen Advisory Board.

Members of the advisory board assembled and painted it the Little Free Library kit and installed it near the school’s playground on Saturday, Aug. 11.

Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization that supports the movement to offer free books housed in small containers to members of local communities. The free library operates on a leave one, take one method.

Residents are encouraged to take a book, and leave another in its place. Residents may return the books they take, but they can keep them if they’d like. The Teen Advisory Board and the Pelham library donated books to get the Little Free Library started.

Librarian Matt Griffin and Pelham Oaks principal Deberah Miller said the Little Free Library was a joint effort to provide more reading opportunities for the community.

“I heard about the one they installed at City Park and I wanted to get one here,” Miller said. “It worked out because they were looking for another location to put one.”

It houses books of various skill levels and is open to all members of the community.

“A lot of families come here on the weekends to play on the playground and everyone can grab a book,” Miller said.

Teen Advisory Board member Shaun O’Neil said he hopes the Little Free Library encourages people to read more often.

“People can maybe get rid of their lower level books and start challenging themselves by reading more difficults book that they can get for free,” he said. “I also wish that we could get more students involved with the public library. So few people read nowadays and are so consumed with social media. I hope people will take notice of the Little Free Library and put it to good use.”

Teen librarian Liz Winn said she will keep an eye on the library to make sure books left there are appropriate and in good condition.

Members of the Pelham library’s Teen Advisory Board include O’Neil, Jordyn England, Amari Springer, Courtney Cook, Anna Wilkes, Dakota Brown and Bethany Warden.