By Lindsey Bailey | For The Republic
If you are the caregiver of a young child, and you haven’t visited the library recently, I highly encourage you to make the trip.
We’ve been busy making improvements to our children’s department to make it more comfortable, more usable, and more fun for everyone — children and caregivers alike.
One of the most visible changes you will notice in our department is the size and placement of our furniture. Our early learning computers are now at a child-friendly level, and so are our blocks, puzzles, and toys, which can be found in the area along the back of the department.
We’ve replaced our well-loved cardboard bricks with Everblocks, a kind of gigantic Lego-style block you’re sure to love. And we’ve added some new cars and city blocks, too.
We’ve also created a new board book area to make it easier for you to browse — no more orange tubs. Don’t miss out on our take-home story time kits or our special collection of books for teachers and caregivers, either –- now conveniently located at the front of the department.
Perhaps the biggest change in our department –- and the one we are most excited about — involves our picture book collection.
As you may have noticed, we have been experimenting over the last few years with organizing our picture books by topic. We have put our books about popular characters in bins, as well as those about dinosaurs and dragons, things that go, cats, dogs, and bedtime stories. Because it has gotten such a positive response, we have decided to reorganize our entire picture book collection this way.
Most kids (and even many adults) aren’t as interested in the author of a picture book as they are in the content of the book. If you’ve ever asked, “Where would I find books about going to the doctor?” or “Can you help me find books about lions?” you know exactly what we mean.
Our new arrangement will group books about similar topics together, making it easier for both you and your children to browse and find what you are looking for.
And for those of you who love Eric Carle, don’t worry –- one of our new categories is for favorite authors, so you’ll still be able to find his books and those by other popular authors together.
If you’re having trouble picturing it, imagine a bookstore. There will be headings to help you find things from pirate books to search and find books all at a glance.
We will be working to make this change gradually over the next few months, so please bear with us as we work to pull and reprocess books.
There may be times when the items you are looking for are in the back getting new labels, or being sorted into categories. We are working hard to process books as quickly as possible, but in the meantime, if there is something you cannot find, please ask at the desk. We will be happy to assist you.
If you have any questions or concerns about the new arrangement, or for a full list of categories and topics, please ask at the desk, or reach out to Lindsey at 812-379-1276 or lbailey@mybcpl.org.
