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Where Superman gets books? Library opens in old phone booth

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Townspeople in a village in Somerset, England, now have a new library -- a decommissioned classic red phone booth (locals there would call it a phone box). It’s more of a location for swapping books than an official library -- there are no late fees, and no room for a librarian. But there is enough space to store about 100 books and DVDs, which people are free to take and return at their leisure.

The idea came to a local resident when Westbury-sub-Mendip, the small Somerset village, ‘lost its phone box and mobile library in quick succession,’ the BBC reports.

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British Telecom has been unplugging the classic phone booths by the hundreds. Some have been turned into art projects. One is a shower; another a public toilet. The one in Somerset seems to be the first to become a lending library.

While 100 books makes for a rather small collection, it seems to be enough for Westbury-sub-Mendip, which boasts a population of 800.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

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