I’ve always adored the concept of those Little Libraries you see popping up across the country and have long fantasized about setting one up in my community. I happen to know there are a lot of readers out here, and sharing books is something that makes my heart happy.
Shaylee Erdmann, who has lived in Two Harbors for three years and hails from the Iron Range, had also been thinking about a Little Library for quite some time.
“I’ve always wanted one,” Erdmann said. “I’d always wanted to do one when I had my own home. Then I finally got the gumption.”
That gumption led Erdmann to scour thrift stores and Facebook Marketplace until she found something that felt like a “good fit” for her vision.
When she found a free cabinet from a fellow in Duluth, she finally saw her idea becoming a reality. But before filling it with books, Erdmann — a talented artist — wanted to tailor the cabinet to the North Shore. The result, standing on 6th Avenue across from the community garden, is truly a work of art.
“I’m just going to really celebrate the North Shore, where I like to be,” Erdmann said. “I want each panel to have something North Shore of a particular area, and I want a little bit of everyone included. I’m trying to just do a little bit of all things for the North Shore that makes it so great.”
Each panel reflects the scenery or symbolism of a different part of the region. For Grand Marais, Artist Point is on display. The Split Rock Lighthouse graces another panel. Gooseberry on another. Black Beach stretches along another door. The North Shore Little Library is as much fun to look at on the outside as the treasures on the inside.
Two Harbors residents and visitors alike may already know Erdmann’s art through her other passion project, if they’ve been lucky enough to stumble upon a painted rock hidden in the community. The Two Harbors Rocks group paints rocks with local scenes, business logos, cartoons, nature, faces, sayings… really anything goes.
Last May, Erdmann celebrated the 2nd Annual Two Harbors Stone Stash, where local artists hid painted stones for a one‑day outdoor hunt for all ages. The group plans to hold another one this year. Rocks can be tracked online, and they’ve been known to travel across the country.
“Someone found one out there in South Dakota and they took it home with them,” Erdmann recalled. “They hid it out in North Carolina. It’s fun to see where Two Harbors can end up.”
That same creative energy shows up in the Little Library, too, where the shelves are as thoughtfully curated as the artwork outside.
I try to keep a good selection of a mix of some nonfiction, more fiction,” Erdmann said. “I try to keep it with different, diverse voices. They’re not all, for example, romance novels. I do have some art books in there as well, like drawing books, and I have graphic novels. I have a good selection of children’s books, board books, young children’s books. I did particularly make a part that was middle grade books, where they’re not quite to the young adult books, but they’re not reading board books either.”
The North Shore Little Library will function as classic sharing libraries do. Some people will finish a book and bring it back, or have a couple in their home they want to pass along. There is no rule to leave a book in order to take a book.
Erdmann has a stock of books to put out as titles make their way back into the wild and encourages the public to add to the inventory as well.
“There’s space for certain if people want to bring in something,” she said. “I definitely encourage it.”
Her efforts are already a hit, with Erdmann noting that people have reached out to say they stopped by.
“I have been kind of keeping an eye out there and seeing if people are enjoying it,” she said. “I think they are, so I like that.”
