HYDE PARK, Utah — Last Friday evening, Joyce Kinkead was watching the Utah Jazz face off against the Los Angeles Clippers — and that’s when she heard it.
“It sounded like a sonic boom,” Kinkead said. “People heard it around the neighborhood.”
The next day, via chatter on a neighborhood app used by people in her community, Kinkead found the nearby little free library she had stewarded over for several years had been “blown up.”
“I just felt like I got gut punched,” Kinkead said.
North Park Police Chief Ulysses Black said the incident was under investigation and agreed the book exchange appeared to have been “blown up.” Black said police received a call just before 11 p.m. March 18 regarding an explosion.
“At that time, the officers could not locate the exact location — it was heard from a distance,” Black said.
Police officers received a report of vandalism the following morning, Black said, and officers connected the dots.
While Black wasn’t aware of any other incidents involving book exchanges, he said there had been other similar vandalisms targeting portable toilets and construction sites with explosives.
Kinkead said she too had not seen any vandalism with the book exchange aside from individuals cleaning out her selection of books for resale.
“That’s a common problem with little free libraries, actually,” Kinkead said. “I’ve gone and opened up my little free library, and there’s not a single book in there. And I’m going, ‘Oh, shoot. That was not a nice thing to do.’ But then I go restock it. Now, this time. I’m just thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh. I don’t know if I can do another little free library.’”
With over 125,000 locations, the Wisconsin-based nonprofit Little Free Library hopes “to be a catalyst for building community, inspiring readers, and expanding book access for all through a global network of volunteer-led” book exchanges.
Kinkead said she worked with the city for permission to install the book exchange at Lion’s Park in 2016. For a couple hundred dollars, money that goes to fund the nonprofit, she received a wood enclosure and a glass door that read “take a book, return a book.” Kinkead explained her sister-in-law had donated money for brand new children’s books, and the book exchange had an additional plate commemorating the donation.
For Kinkead, being a steward of the book exchange allowed her to “kind of play at being a librarian.”
“I admire librarians so much,” Kinkead said, explaining her affinity for books and librarians started as a child growing up on a farm in Missouri. “My great joy was going into town, and my mother would drop me at the library while she went grocery shopping, and I got to check out a book. And so books have always just been a source of wonder for me.”
Prior to the vandalism, Kinkead said she had recently checked the book exchange’s healthy selection of reading material and was planning to stock more books for the coming summer months. Kinkead said she heard several neighbors say they were disappointed by the destruction of the book exchange.
“It was really heartwarming for me how much support and warmth that came out,” Kinkead said.
Though the future of the Lion’s Park little free library is unknown, Kinkead said it’s been suggested by some that the Hyde Park Youth Council take it on as a project.
“I’d really like someone else to take it on. And I can always restock books,” Kinkead said, “but it just took the heart out of me to lose it.”
Black encouraged anyone with footage from doorbell cameras or additional information about the incident to reach out to police.