Baltimore Literacy Hub
Free Book Stores
Store Hours
Friday: 4 PM – 7 PM (EST)
Saturday: 11 AM – 3 PM (EST)
Sunday: 11 AM – 3 PM (EST)
Stop by at pick out 5 free books on the three days that we are open, either Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
Upcoming Events
Team Rubicon/Travis Manion Volunteer event @ the Baltimore Literacy Hub
All are welcome to volunteer! Click here to register
Location: Our Kids Read Free Children's Book Store & Literacy Hub, Eastpoint Mall, 7860 Eastpoint Mall, Baltimore, MD 21224
Team Rubicon/Travis Manion Volunteer event @ the Baltimore Literacy Hub
All are welcome to volunteer! Click here to register
Location: Our Kids Read Free Children's Book Store & Literacy Hub, Eastpoint Mall, 7860 Eastpoint Mall, Baltimore, MD 21224
Team Rubicon/Travis Manion Volunteer event @ the Baltimore Literacy Hub
All are welcome to volunteer! Click here to register
Location: Our Kids Read Free Children's Book Store & Literacy Hub, Eastpoint Mall, 7860 Eastpoint Mall, Baltimore, MD 21224
What is a 3rd Space?
In 1989, sociologist Ray Oldenburg coined the term third places to describe places we go – aside from home (first place) and work/school (second place) – to be in community, in person. Think: parks, places of worship, public libraries … Coffee shops and bars come to mind, but they carry (presumably) costs that, though nominal to some, count as prohibitive to others.
Authentic third places hinge on accessibility (i.e., they are NO-cost) and agency (i.e., they are places people choose to go). In this time of division, polarization, isolation and digitization, society hungers for third places – whether it knows it or not.
A multitude of academics, writers and commentators, at The University of Chicago and Brookings for example, have extolled the virtue and value of Third Places.
The Children’s Literacy Hub opened in Baltimore, Maryland on April 26, 2025. (Jahmal, is it the ‘Children’s Literacy Hub’, ‘The Baltimore Literacy Hub’ or the ‘Literacy Hub’?) A free children’s bookstore and literary resource center, OKR’s Literacy Hub is a brick-and-mortar manifestation of our conviction that literacy is everyone’s birthright – because it is a bridge to what’s better: academic success, economic independence, and physical, mental and social/emotional health.
More than that, the Literacy Hub is space for children, parents, caregivers and volunteers to come together, united around one purpose: Give children in under-resourced communities access to a lifetime of literacy and the benefits it gives. This unity of purpose in and of itself breeds community.
Contrast parks, which are bastions of parallel (albeit cool!) play: for fitness, for forest bathing, for dog walking … The Hub is the purest of Third Places: space for Belonging. Because communities can’t thrive if some are shut out.
"In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General issued a rare advisory on the ‘healing effects of social connection and community.’ In it lies an unmistakable call to action: design the built environment to promote social connection."
And Brookings has pointed to a provision of the Affordable Care Act that requires non-profit hospitals to analyze local health needs in their communities and help address them using hospital resources. Given what we know about the importance of social interactions and community networks to address certain mental health issues, hospitals could identify existing or possible third places.
Our Vision & Expansion
Our Literacy Hub is the quintessential Third Place: a space for children and families to gather in person, at NO cost, and connect around literacy. One we aim to expand and replicate with help from foundation and hospital partners.
Our ASK is that you partner with us in response to this imperative.
Help us relocate and expand the Literacy Hub from its current size to 18,000 ft2 at a more centrally located address. There, OKR can:
- • Give free books to even more children so they can have their own home libraries.
- • Maintain an even larger and more accessible Third Place that fosters literacy and social connection.