Readers rejoice: P.E.I. little library fixed by business owner

When neighbours first saw the smashed windows of a little library in the Sherwood neighbourhood of Charlottetown, they couldn't understand why someone would have done it.

The little nest for books is plunked up like a mailbox and in its roughly six-week lifespan has seen many people come and go, exchanging books with crackly spines and even dropping off new ones.

"I was sad, frankly," said Keith Burgoyne, who put it up just outside his house.

"Not angry or anything, just disappointed. It has been a constant source of joy for myself and, I think, for a lot of other people."

In its relatively short time there, the door has been opened nearly 300 times by visitors, according to a counter Burgoyne installed inside.

Then, last weekend the Plexiglason its door was smashed in.

Burgoyne posted a picture of it on Twitter, people were upset to hear what had happened and some even offered to help.

And that help was quickly on the way.

'Why not?'

Burgoyne got a text from Ryan Roach, the owner of Glass Doctor of P.E.I., who offered to fix the library for free.

"Which was utterly unexpected,"Burgoyne said,"but it totally turned things around.It was fantastic."

Roach stopped by on Sunday to take a look, cut the piece of Lexan(similar to Plexiglas)onMonday and then screwed it into placeThursday morning.

"I just wanted to help out," Roach said.

After seeing the post online he was discouraged to see that the library had been vandalized. Sometimes, he said, seeing that can make someone "lose a little bit of faith in humanity so I figured I'd try my best to restore a little bit of that faith."

When asked why he'd done it for free he said simply: "why not?"

The little library is back up and ready for visitors to drop by to exchange their favourite titles and discover new ones.

"Come on by, take whatever you'd like, leave whatever you'd like," Burgoyne said.

"Every time you leave a book you're probably going to make somebody happy,so it's kind of like putting forward a little bit of joy at a time when I think we could all really use it."

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