Street Books, a nonprofit based in Portland, Oregon, serves the homeless with books from a bicycle-powered mobile library. Founded in June 2011 by Laura Moulton, an artist, writer, and adjunct professor of creative nonfiction, the Street Books library operates like most libraries, where patrons return their checked-out books after a three-week period; however, Street Book patrons, unlike at many libraries, do not have to show proof of address or identification.

To support her project, Moulton sought $4,000 from Kickstarter backers in 2011, and raised $5,345. This past summer, she received a $1,000 grant from the Awesome Foundation, which awards grants “for the arts and sciences and the advancement of awesomeness in the universe.” Three librarians, including Moulton, run the library, and are paid $60 per week for a three-hour shift. They fill the library themselves with books that suit their tastes, and their patrons’. There’s no return policy, and as Street Books' "About" page reads, despite the concerns of others prior to the launching of the library that the books might not be returned, “Four years into the project, patrons have returned their books, or sought us out to tell us they’d be unable to do so.”

Diane Rempe, a community psychologist who recently completed her PhD, and who pedals the mobile library once a week, said to the New York Times that the library is “not just a little novelty act.” It sends the message to the rest of the community of Portland that poor and marginalized people have interests in literature, too, she said.

“It transcends the bookish culture of Portland, though I think it’s perfect for the bookish culture of Portland,” she said.

See more at The New York Times.