Library's child, teen areas are 'shockingly popular'

In 1978, Mary Greenawalt, head of children's services at the Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin, wrote a successful grant proposal based on the concept that children learn through play.

Specifically, she focused on preschoolers and their parents or guardians. A separate room was created in the library for the purpose of parents/guardians sharing learning with children. At the time, this was considered revolutionary, and people came from all over the country to see how it worked.

The concept has been so successful that when the new Gail Borden building was planned, expanded space was allocated for preschoolers and their parents to have fun and learn at the same time.

Increasingly, libraries are creating compelling spaces for all ages. At the Evanston Public Library, a renovation of the children's area was planned because the collection of books and other materials had gotten too big. But when staff began to plan and research how to proceed, they discovered that the population of children in Evanston had increased 16 percent since 2000 when the new library was built. And attendance at programs had increased a whopping 500 percent!

Paul Gottschalk was administrative service manager of the library then. Now he is also the acting director. He told me that a committee of staff and library trustees visited libraries with thriving children's programs, and quickly recognized that spaces for children and young people were very different in libraries that were focusing on reaching these groups.

"In the old days, the spaces for kids were just miniature versions of the spaces for adults. There were tables and chairs and rows of books. But in the kids' area, they were smaller. We wanted to reach out to the young people in Evanston, and we realized we needed to do something entirely different."

The library held "Listening Sessions" with library users, staffers, trustees and architects. The teens were especially vocal. "They wanted a room of their own," Gottschalk said, "With a lot of interactive opportunities."

Rick McCarthy, library architect and partner at Burridge Cassell Associates, echoed Gottschalk's observations, saying: "Today people of all ages want their information personalized and they want it right now. We see this desire played out in library architecture with more exciting spaces planned, especially for children and teens. As a trustee at the Gail Borden Public Library, we followed this trend because we want our library to be relevant. In the 21st century, it's all about being relevant."

The Evanston Public Library created a fantastic area for children with a garden theme. There's a mosaic sculpture that begs to be touched with special sounds as a result. There's a fiber optic fountain, a puppet stage, large blocks, and of course, plenty of books and other materials. Children often burst into tears when it is time to leave.

Teens got their own room that the Teen Advisory Council named "The Loft." The group also named the two adjacent small study rooms: the Attic and the Basement, traditional hang-outs for this age group. There are plenty of computers and a wall of TV monitors with a chartreuse color scheme. It's a great room and teens are now asking to have birthday parties there.

I asked Gottschalk if he considered these renovations successful.

"Shockingly popular," he said. "We had done the research and we knew it would work. We just didn't predict that it would be so very popular. Needless to say, we're delighted."

Learn more about these exciting new spaces at the Evanston Public Library by viewing our award winning cable TV show, "What's New in Libraries?" Go to www.whatsnewinlibraries.org for times and channels in your area.