'Little Free Library' operator grateful for community response after books stolen

WEST VALLEY CITY — Angela Jensen was at home on Tuesday when a man stopped in front of her Little Free Library.

It's not unusual for people to stop. After all, the sign near the book-sharing stand on King Arthur Drive in West Valley City encourages visitors to "take a book" or "leave a book."

But this person had other ideas. Jensen's Ring camera caught the moment he grabbed an entire stack and put it into his car, leaving just one or two books on the top shelf.

"The whole thing was cleared out," Jensen told KSL.

Little Free Library is a Minnesota-based nonprofit organization with locations around the country. Jensen has hosted one for five years. She takes it seriously, posting updates about available books on Instagram and regularly rotating the selection.

She even hand-painted her stand and decorates it for the holidays.

"I want all of our neighborhoods to have access to free books, to banned books, too," she said. "Anything that they want to access or get knowledge about, I think that it's fair to have it accessible to everybody."

After her books were stolen, Jensen posted about it on social media, and she got a response.

"A lot of people reached out willing to come by and donate books," she said. "I actually have seen a couple people come by and drop by books."

Jensen hopes those donations will continue, and she's grateful for the response that shows there are people who care.

"They were actually really compassionate because I was worried that I was going to get backlash from people being like, 'Why are you putting this out there?' Or, 'Why are you posting him,'" she said. "But I'm not against public shaming if you're doing bad things against your neighborhood."

Jensen said she didn't file a police report after the theft, but she posted the video so people could keep an eye out — especially those who run Little Free Libraries of their own — so it hopefully doesn't happen to them.

"I was pretty shocked," she said.

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