Wooden boxes now dot several streets in Ottawa Hills, offering would-be readers the chance to enjoy a new book.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony Saturday outside Ottawa Hills Elementary School unveiled the four free “yard libraries” available throughout the village. Steven Randall, a member of Boy Scout Troop 27, said he wanted to share his love of reading while completing his Eagle Scout Service Project.

“This has been kind of a passion of mine since I was very young, and I thought, we don’t really have an always-open library,” said Steven, a 15-year-old Ottawa Hills High School student.

The miniature libraries allow residents to take and return, swap, or donate books for others to use. The books are for adults and children.

The boxes are stationed at Brookside and Chestnut Hill roads, the Ottawa Hills Elementary School playground, the 4000 block of Brookside Road, and Miner and Brookside roads. Each location is ideal because of heavy foot traffic in the area and distance from established libraries, Steven said.

“They’re kind of spread out to give all the parts of Ottawa Hills an experience of libraries,” he said.

Steven designed the boxes and worked to obtain materials; others volunteered their time for building them under Steven’s supervision, as required by the Boy Scouts of America. The Ottawa Hills Moms Club provided planning assistance, funding, and books.

About 30 people attended Saturday’s ceremony, and Steven said the strong community response was “simultaneously exciting and humbling.”

The maturity he showed in organizing the project and meeting officials was impressive, said his mother, Laura Randall, 47. 

It is a lasting addition to the community Steven and others can appreciate for many years, she said.

Mrs. Randall said she hopes people outside Ottawa Hills will see these boxes and desire them for their own neighborhoods.

“It’s going to be a full circle. People can take and give as much as they can,” she said.

Mrs. Randall recently noticed a mother and her two young children near one of the library boxes. The parent picked up two books to share with them for their walk.

“Fifteen minutes’ exposure to a book could change those children’s lives forever,” she said.

For some, the donations will be spring cleaning from home. Others will appreciate the children’s books, which can otherwise be expensive or unavailable from the library, she said.

“I just think it’s beautiful, the support that we had today and the support that it’s going to have in perpetuity. I just really sense good things happening here,” she said.

Contact Ryan Dunn at rdunn@theblade.com, or 419-724-6095, or on Twitter @rdunnblade.

First Published May 17, 2015, 4:00 a.m.