November 3, 2025
Want to relax and get lost in your imagination while you’re waiting for your flight or winding down after a long journey? With two Little Free Libraries (LFLs) located in the terminal, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) offers plenty of opportunities to find your next read.
At SEA, travelers and staff can visit these book-sharing boxes, “take a book, leave a book,” and share stories from around the world. LFLs bring a touch of neighborhood charm to the airport, offering the chance to slow down, swap a story, and maybe discover a new favorite author before takeoff.
A community-based global movement
Little Free Library is a non-profit organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota. The first LFL was built in 2009 in Hudson, Wisconsin. Today, there are over 200,000 registered LFLs around the globe in 128 countries across all seven continents and in 50 U.S. states. The organization estimates that around 400 million books have been shared worldwide! LFL is well on its way of fulfilling its mission to being “a catalyst for building community, inspiring readers, and expanding book access for all through a global network of volunteer-led Little Free Library book-exchange boxes.”
LFL has a vision to have a Little Free Library in every community, and its website has information on how you can start your own LFL. You can find one near you using a map on their website. As an avid reader, I love all the LFLs in my neighborhood. When I work from home, I have different lunchtime walking routes to browse and return books, hitting a dozen on one route. My latest favorite find is the “Thursday Morning Murder Club,” which I am very excited to read after watching the movie.
LFLs at SEA and beyond
SEA was one of the first international airports to install LFLs. They were first installed in 2022 after Anika Klix, a former Port of Seattle employee, and published author Amy Dressler, introduced the idea of bringing LFLs to SEA during a Port Shark Tank event in the fall of 2021. The event is based off the Shark Tank reality show, where Port employees share ideas to shape the future of SEA. Their pitch was a success!
Other airports with LFLs include Rhode Island T. F. Green International Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island; Willie P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas; and Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
How you can participate
The next time you travel via SEA, bring a book (or two) to share and browse the shelves to see if a book catches your imagination. Learn more about book guidelines.
Where to find them
- Concourse A (near Gate A1): Children’s-focused LFL is located across from the Children’s Play Area
- Concourse A (near Gate A3): A general LFL is located above the SEA Underground A station near the escalator
Powered by community partners
SEA recently reached out to Friends of the Seattle Public Library (Friends) and received 552 books for the two LFLs at the airport. I am a Friends volunteer, and, during one of my recent shifts, I excitedly packed two boxes of books for SEA.
The mission of Friends, which was established in 1941, is “to elevate the Library and inspire the love of reading in our communities.” Through events, advocacy, and programs, Friends keeps the Library and literacy at the center of the community. You can pick up books for your LFL or donate gently-used books at the Orcas Business Park location. Learn more about Friends and book donation guidelines.
Artist spotlight
The two LFLs at SEA Airport were painted by local artists. Learn more about them below.
Elizabeth R. Gahan
This artist “explores relationships between nature and built environments, public space and private experience, as well as architecture and advertising. Using corrugated plastic and colorful vinyl, I transform ordinary materials into alluring and elaborate “synthetic growths” in which unnatural materials take on forms inspired by nature, architecture, and pattern.”
“I target destructive texts — official or influential words that have harmful repercussions on a mass scale. Then I disempower the messages in these texts by transforming them into paintings through handwritten algorithms.
I take the numbers, letters, and punctuation that comprise these texts and alphabetically reorder them. The result is total nonsense. All of the same elements are there, but they no longer have the power to do harm. They have been disarmed. Like taking a gun and switching around its parts so the mechanism can no longer fire. Finally, I use both forms of the text to write an algorithm that that drives the decisions of each brush stroke of paint. I input the raw data of the text into the algorithm, run it through a series of “if/then” rules I assign based on the structure and grammar of the written words, and receive an output of painterly actions. Each letter of the text corresponds to one discrete brush stroke, creating a larger idea from the individual elements. The painting could not exist without either the original or altered text.”
