Preston Hollow Rotary Club Installs Mini Libraries

Bachman Lake, other locations get boxes to encourage reading for youth

The Preston Hollow Rotary Club’s latest initiative is the installation of tiny libraries of children’s books at Bachman Lake.

The newest sharing library was installed Nov. 26 at the playground at Bachman Lake. Another one will be placed at the site’s new aquatic center when it opens.

The project started about a year ago when the group donated boxes of books to the leasing offices of local apartment buildings. When that wasn’t receiving much traction from residents and local children, the members decided to take it outside and install a bookcase at Bachman Lake, free to the community.  

“The first one we put in, the kids just came up and were looking through the books before we could even get the books in the box,” said Susan Cowley, the Rotary Club’s longest-serving member. “I went back two days later, and we probably put in 50 books, and there were probably 15 left.”

In addition to the present and soon-to-come cases at Bachman Lake, mini library boxes in local apartments remain. The Rotary Club hopes to install a future location at Marcus Recreation Center.

“If you learn to read, you can access the world,” Cowley said.

The mini libraries are funded by Rotary Club member Cheryl Drane Skipworth and managed by Cowley, as she regularly swims at Bachman Lake.

The Rotary Club also is partnering with Black 2 Life, an organization in Oak Cliff and South Dallas that donates books to “empower Black men to strengthen underserved communities through education and inspiration.”

“They have a bigger reach than we do right now,” Cowley said. “They’ve been in operation for five years, and we’ve just started, so we’re partnering with them.”