ZONING: Book swap station ordered closed because it’s not in a commercial zone.

One of Shreveport’s Little Free Libraries was ordered to cease operations Thursday, and others in the city could face the same fate.

Alan Clarke, the MPC’s zoning administrator, said the book swaps are, by definition, libraries equivalent to Shreve Memorial Library, and under city law a library can only exist in a commercially-zoned area.

Shreveporter Teresa Edgerton learned this after her husband opened a certified letter from the zoning division ordering them to stop operating their Little Free Library, a decorative structure containing books, outside of their Wilkinson Street home.

Passersby are permitted to “take a book, return a book.” Money is not exchanged. But according to the letter, which Teresa Edgerton posted on Facebook, their book swap station still is considered a commercial enterprise and can’t operate in a residential neighborhood.