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RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A REDESIGNED CHILDREN'S ROOM
The Children's Room Subcommittee of the Library Expansion Committee
(Sally Dow, Judy Sagat, Marci Dressler, Tania Cafarelli, Debra Cotto, Linda Griffin and Sue Ellen Silber) met several times to discuss the design of a new Children's Room.
As is true of the rest of the Ossining Public Library, the Children's Room is heavily used. We all agreed that the existing space was too small and that it was poorly designed to meet the needs of the patrons and professionals who use it. It must serve the needs of children from toddlers through the elementary school years along with parents, caregivers and infant siblings who accompany them. The library staff provides an extensive array of programs and could improve and add to those programs if appropriate space were available. The staff also lacks adequate workspace and equipment. The collections of books, periodicals and especially AV materials have long since outgrown available space.
Based on our own experiences using the OPL, Committee members discussed ways we would like to see the space improved. We also visited children's rooms at other libraries in Westchester and Fairfield Counties and shared our observations of those facilities.
At our last meeting we created a "wish list" of features that we would like to see included in the design for the Children's Room in Ossining. In creating that list, we took into consideration the physical as well as the educational needs of the children and parents who use the library as well as the professional needs of the librarians who serve them. We also tried to incorporate the more appealing features of libraries we had visited and to avoid some of the design pitfalls they had encountered.
On the following pages you will find a summary of the features we feel are necessary and desirable for a new and more successful Children's Room.
General Design Features
- Dirt and wear resistant fabrics and carpeting (e.g. carpeting with individual tiles that can be easily replaced)
- Furniture and shelving that is both heavy duty and appropriately sized for kids
- Clear sight lines throughout to allow librarians and caregivers to monitor children's behavior and possible egress
- Lots of light and windows
- Walls covered in a surface that permits easy hanging and removal of artwork and displays, the more the better.
- Clear directional signage
Public Facilities
- Handicapped and stroller accessible restrooms for men and women with diaper decks and child-sized sinks
- A separate child-sized bathroom or a family bathroom with a child-sized toilet and sink
- Water fountain reachable by children
- Stroller accessible entrance and aisles
- Cloakroom or coat hooks with stroller parking area
- Snack area (or easy access to caf used by all patrons)
- Circulation - Patrons like convenience of having circulation in Children's Room, both to ease process of checkout with children in tow and to teach kids to use library. Librarians seemed to prefer centralized check out.
- Courtyard/Outdoor space - while some thought this would be appealing, several librarians mentioned problems in practice. Would need to be very carefully considered
Office and Storage Space
- Desks with computer terminals, Internet access and telephones for each staff member
- Separate office/work area with above plus a sink and a general work surface
- Large storage closet for seasonal books, craft supplies, etc.
- Several other librarians recommended getting an Ellison machine and a laminator
Program Room
- Either one large space that can be divided with a partition, or one cozy story hour room and one larger general program room
- Program room should have adequate tables and chairs for craft projects as well as a sink for craft cleanup
- Set up for simple AV presentations (pull down screen, TV with video/DVD player, microphone)
- Story area should be light, have windows and have comfortable seating, even if on the floor. (Some children were frightened of spaces that were too small, dark or confining)
- Glass enclosed room or room with observation window is a good idea to allow caregivers to observe without disturbing.
- Seating for caregivers outside program room.
- Program room must be separate from, and soundproofed from general Children's Room as well as being dedicated to use by children's room only. (Current sharing of space prevents full range of programs from being presented.)
Toddler/Baby Area
- Specially designed shelving that is lower for small children and deeper to accommodate picture books.
- Some forward-facing shelves to enable children to see book covers
- Comfortable seating for mothers or caregivers to read to children. Best if private, e.g. several sofas or window seats with some physical distance or barrier
- Small quantity of age appropriate toys and puzzles for quiet play
- Enclosed by some kind of barrier to keep little ones from wandering off. We especially liked glass enclosed areas that allowed visual supervision and helped keep noise down in adjacent areas
School Age Kids' Area
- More shelving
- Work space for individuals to do homework
- Comfortable reading spaces
- Separate shelving for series
- Shelves for copies of classroom texts from elementary schools and summer reading list materials
Homework Help Area
- Separate from rest of stacks to maintain quiet
- Several tables with chairs
Audio Visual Storage
- Need greatly increased shelving designed specifically for videos, CDs, cassette kits
- Must be directly supervised by librarians to prevent theft
Improvements to Collections
- Greater range of foreign language materials, especially in languages most frequently spoken in community
- More parenting materials (in separate shelving)
- Periodicals should be more available and better displayed
Computers
- Terminals with Internet access at each librarian desk
- Terminals with Internet and catalog access for kids in location that can be directly observed by librarians. Do not recommend use of filters
- Terminals with games, word processing and graphics software and printers
- Possibly several of the above in homework area so older kids can work quietly on projects.
- Volunteers regularly scheduled to be available to kids to help with computer problems, regular maintenance checks on computers and printers
- Training for librarians in case of lack of above.