Library uses refurbished furniture to create reading space for
parents and kids
The San Benito County Free Library has created a
”
Family Place
”
designed to encourage parents and their children to spend time
reading together in a comfortable setting.
”
The idea is to provide a place where parents can sit comfortably
with children where it’ll be similar to what they have at home,
”
said Librarian Nora Conte, who secured a donation of furniture
from a San Jose public library.
”
This way we’re translating the library into the home and the
home into the library
”
in both the English- and Spanish-speaking children’s areas.
Library uses refurbished furniture to create reading space for parents and kids
The San Benito County Free Library has created a “Family Place” designed to encourage parents and their children to spend time reading together in a comfortable setting.
“The idea is to provide a place where parents can sit comfortably with children where it’ll be similar to what they have at home,” said Librarian Nora Conte, who secured a donation of furniture from a San Jose public library. “This way we’re translating the library into the home and the home into the library” in both the English- and Spanish-speaking children’s areas.
Tight budgets make it difficult for the library to purchase new furniture, so Conte used her contacts in San Jose to acquire three “quite expensive” pieces of furniture, including a small, two-seat couch and two other couches that are in the shape of books.
Rowe Upholstery repaired the couches for a small fee, Conte said, fixing them up so they look like new.
“We didn’t have any money to purchase something like this,” she said, noting that she often checks with libraries that are closing to see what she can acquire for the Fifth Street branch. “We asked the right questions and they were given to us.”
Conte said that when she arrived as librarian a few years ago, the library had huge tables that impeded access to some areas. She has been working to replace and upgrade the area so that the furniture is appropriate and conducive to encouraging patrons to stay for awhile.
“Children need to have space,” she said. “You can’t crowd them up.”
The library’s expanded mobile services, made possible through a recently-purchased bookmobile, have also expanded interest in the library itself, according to Conte.
“Once people discover the library through our bookmobile, they often come to our facility and discover a bigger treasure,” she said. “We’ve received quite a bit of comments from people who say they really appreciate the family place areas. We want an area to inspire and motivate parents and children to read and enjoy themselves. Reading and learning is fun, so we try to promote that idea with our customers.”
The Family Place is still a work in progress, as library staff are planning to expand activities offered there to promote literacy.
“You start building those basic skills for the foundation of reading, so that when children get home they understand sounds and vocabulary,” Conte said. “It’s all about building a foundation and it’s really about sharing the love of reading with children. We have a 23 percent illiteracy rate in San Benito County. We need to take that seriously.”
The library has plans to work with the Hollister School District in early 2010 on an initiative to get a library card in the hand of every first-grader in the district, with the ultimate goal of reaching all first-graders throughout the county.
“They are our tomorrow,” Conte said. “We need to be here for them so they will be prepared to compete in the future.”
