The owners of Marietta’s original Little Free Libraries are closing them instead of modifying them to comply with a new borough policy.

Joyce Lehman, who set up the first little library in the community of 2,600 in 2014 with her husband, Ernest, said they took down one of theirs Friday.

“Ours is a dead cause,” Joyce Lehman, 78, said Friday.

The Lehmans and the other original operators have also put up signs asking people not to drop off any more books. All five original libraries will be down within the week, she said.

However, since the dispute last month over a policy regulating the libraries’ size and location, two borough officials have put up little libraries.

The library the Lehmans removed Friday was larger than what the borough wanted under a policy it adopted in September.

Bridey Hannold, the borough’s council president, said it was unfortunate the operators are taking them down and that was never the intent.

“We were hoping they would just slightly modify the libraries to the concept on the (Little Free Library) website,” Hannold said, meaning the libraries should be on the smaller side.

The borough created its policy in response to a complaint and after several months’ discussion. Operators of the libraries said the borough never checked with them, however.

Besides limiting the libraries to 4.5 cubic feet, the policy also says they can’t be placed within or overhang the public street right-of-way.

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Also, the libraries can’t be in refrigerators, as some were. That’s both to comply with an existing borough zoning ordinance and state law.

The borough doesn’t want people storing junk appliances outside because they’re an eyesore and a potential safety hazard. And the state law is intended to prevent children from becoming locked inside refrigerators and freezers.

Lehman said the borough told her she could put a library in her yard. She doesn’t want to do that, though.

“If we put one in our yard, we have a two-foot (deep) pond. We’d have kids drowning,” she said.

Lehman said she’s been contacted by people in two other Lancaster County communities that want to put up the libraries, so they’ll get some of the books.

And it’s not exactly the final chapter for the libraries in Marietta.

Several weeks ago, Hannold put up a library on her property. She filled it with a variety of books, including some her children have read and some from her mother, an avid reader.

Hannold said she’s wanted a little library since seeing a news report about them several years ago.

Another borough official also put one up, she said.

“You can always lead by example,” Hannold said, adding she used a blueprint from the Little Free Library’s website.