The CTC’s Little Free Library
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Recently installed in the lobby of the Sky Lakes Cancer Treatment Center is a little library.
Origins
Little libraries, also called sharing libraries, are a popular trend where community members share books. They work off of a trade system: take a book, leave a book.
The idea for adding a little library in the Cancer Treatment Center (CTC) came from Brittany and Holly Montjoy.
Brittany Montjoy is the owner of locally beloved bookstore Canvas Back Books, while Holly Montjoy works as the medical director of Klamath Hospice and as a primary care provider at the Cascades East Family Medicine Clinic, in addition to her work with Sky Lakes and Plum Ridge as a supplemental hospitalist.
The couple was at the bookstore when they realized how beneficial a little library could be for the CTC. Holly Montjoy said, “people are sitting around for hours; they should be reading good books!”
The couple worked together to bring a little library to CTC patients. Holly used her resources to gain funding for the library structure itself, while Brittany helped fill the library with a donation from Canvas Back Books. Though the first donation came from the couple’s personal library.
The Library in Action
The little library has seen regular use since it was installed a month ago. Johanna Shearer, director of the Sky Lakes Cancer Treatment Center, says that the books “comforts [patients] and provides some entertainment and escape for what reality has in store for them right now.”
The library has a capacity of roughly 50 books with a wide range of genres. Use of the library is limited to patients and their families, though anyone can donate a book.
If you would like to donate books to the library, all you need to do is drop them off at the front desk at the CTC so they can be cleaned and sanitized before their addition to the library.
