If we did our math correctly, this book is bigger than that library.
LIGHT READING
It’s always nice to find out that you’ve set a record of some sort, but in most people’s eyes, a record only counts when it’s been recognized by the folks at Guinness.
Unfortunately for the folks who run the library in Cardigan, a fishing community on Canada’s Prince Edward Island—Guinness doesn’t actually have a category in their Book of World Records for Smallest Library, but the lesser-known, Guinness rival World Record Academy has decided to go ahead and give them the title anyway.
Operated by John A. MacDonald, the Cardigan library is located in a 3.5 x 3.5 metre building, holds 1,800 books (give or take), operates on an honor system, and only charges $5 for a lifetime membership. The library proudly trumpets its miniscule size with a sign on the side of building, although the words “world’s smallest library” feature “smallest” in quotation marks, possibly as a nod to the lack of Guinness approval.
Nonetheless, the books regularly fly in and out of the facility, using only an honor system to ensure that titles are returned in a timely fashion.
OLD MACDONALD HAD SOME BOOKS
In a July 2013 CBC story, MacDonald’s daughter, Alexandrea, who assists her father in his literary endeavor, discussed her rationale behind advertising the littleness of the library, explaining, “I think that when they see that, when they’re driving by, they’re thinking, oh, maybe they’re just heading on the way to Montague Library, but then they think, ‘Oh, Canada’s Smallest Library. That’s pretty cool. I’m going to go check that out.’”
You could go to jail for up to 30 days in Nova Scotia if you color a chick.