When I was in a tiny village in Somerset I saw a telephone box neatly shelved and full of books; a mini library. Looking this up I found there were many of them, using de-commissioned red telephone boxes. The first one was apparently opened in 2009 in Westbury sub-Mendip in Somerset and was purchased by the parish council for £1.
These little libraries are run with no regulations and no fines. The idea is that you replace the book you borrow or you gift another book if you want to keep the first one! Some phone boxes also house a defibrillator which seems an excellent idea.
I would love to look after one but there is no such phone box anywhere near me. Maybe it only works properly in small villages. Mine would have fresh flowers and community notices as well.
Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who invented the phone box in 1924, could never have imagined it could he?