The children’s section brings new learning and engagement opportunities

The furnishings are more fun and hip, with booths and two levels of bar style stools, fun chairs, floating glide chairs. It’s a fun place to hang out. With the middle school coming,” and with construction underway at the nearby high school campus, “this is the study group Nirvana, an ideal place for study groups to happen. Kids have a safe place to go connect with knowledge and each other.”

Already the foot traffic has increased at the branch, especially with parents picking up children at all hours.

The children’s section has as much square footage in it as the entire old branch had. It has a dedicated circulation desk in it, kid’s computers, a story-time forest, reading nooks and what Brown described as “a cute reading house providing the ideal environment for kids to connect to books and fun.”

One recent addition that stands out in the children’s section is a series of shelves stacked with clear duffle-bag sized projects to explore check out. These are STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) kits, collections of games, puzzles and activities for all ages, for the whole family. The library has always had some of these kits. Brown explained that the district recently applied for a $70,000 grant to acquire more, and much to their surprise, the entire grant was approved, bringing in pallets of kits that have been distributed throughout the district.

“You may try to buy kits like these for yourself and find they’re really expensive,” Brown said. “Some of it is just fun. It’s all educational. Kids are socializing and learning a lot, even if they learn Grandpa cheats on games. A good number of them can be checked out. Some have hundreds of parts and are a challenge for us to check them back in.”

Contents are only part of a library. Making an accommodating space, a home-away-from-home environment involves creative thinking plus anticipating the needs of patrons. Here the Monett library branch has especially excelled.

For example, circling the outside, you would discover the drive-through window, unique to this branch, ideal for processing advance reservations, picking up and dropping off books from the car, along with a drive-up drop box. Parking encircles the building.

On the northeast corner of the building is a unique outdoor covered patio space, complete with ample furnishings that enables patrons to read outside in the fresh air.

“There’s nothing like that in any other branch, or is it typical in any library across the country,” Brown said. “We took surveys of the community, and the outdoor area came up in that. In the past, when the weather was nice, we would go outside and do outdoor reading time. We did an ice cream social reading time in spring and early summer. Now we have a perfect place for that. We have a little playground out there too. Moms can meet there with their kids for a play date.”

At the entrance is a coffee bar and spacious hospitality area, a welcoming place for people to congregate and connect with other library patrons. Adjacent to that is the community room, the largest in the system, something the Monett branch has lacked since the introduction of a computer server took away that space. This community room has space for more than 100 people, with tables and comfortable chairs, enough for an arts and crafts program giving everyone their own table space. All the furniture can be stacked and rolled away in a nearby storage room, space the old branch never had.

Most unique about the community room is the Inspiration Kitchen, a complete kitchen that can not only assist gatherings but is designed for foodbased demonstrations, some of the most popular types of adult programs.

“Culinary food-based interest is a commonality among all our online audience,” Brown said. “We use online research to direct our programming staff. The University of Missouri Extension has a lot of food-based programming, such as canning, jerky making and working with elderberries. These have been some of the best attended programs in Monett and across the district. Investing in a space that enriches that type of program makes sense.”

Special spaces have been incorporated all around the building. There are four reservable private study rooms for up to two patrons to work in quiet and without disturbance, available on a first-come, first-served basis if not reserved. There’s also a reservable meeting room that can hold up to 10 people.

“One of the things people don’t realize is we have social workers and tutors come to use the library space,” Brown said. “Social workers are discussing private subjects. Before, they did that in the middle of the walkway, and tried to handle sensitive matters very quietly but still in a public space. Now they can work in a private, safe space. We’re really happy to offer that.”

The new branch also has a bank of nine computer stations – an upgrade from six in the old branch – in separate carrells offering high-speed internet access, all connected to a professional-grade color laser printer. Those are in addition to computers used to search the catalogue. Brown noted each computer space has a dividing wall instead of being in the middle of the walkway as in the past. “You feel like you are in your own little office space,” he said.

Throughout the facility are new furnishings, secured by bid from Demco, “the gold standard” in library furniture. A number of other vendors didn’t even bid, due to supply chain issues. Metal tables have plug-ins and plug-in caddies for electronic devices, as do many other seating options. There’s also a large cozy adult reading area with a place for enjoying books, off to one side in a somewhat secluded area, safe and open, designed with shelves and a wall of expanded display cases as a divider, giving the feeling of a private lounge area. The display cases will enable the library to show off art and collectibles from patrons far beyond what was possible in the past.

Even the much larger bathrooms have special touches. They have full automation to save energy, are fully trimmed with anti-vandalism tiles designed for easy maintenance and long lasting wear. The entire branch has LED lights for more brightness and energy efficiency.

Staff received better accommodations as well.

The welcome desk is twice the size of the old one, enabling staff to serve multiple patrons quickly and efficiently. Designed with plenty of under-the-counter space, the desk offers an organized place for everything, all set up ergonomically. Brown credited the staff at Paragon Architecture in Springfield with many good ideas to make a better work space. Staff also now have a large workroom, unlike anything they had previously, an office, and a break room with lockers and a kitchen.

“Most librarians stay the entire day,” Brown said. “Now each of the staff has their own desk area in the workroom. For them to have a space so they can enjoy lunch, or a break, or to have a workroom to prepare a program, like making a craft for a presentation, away from the patron space, is really nice.”

New jobs have also come from the expanded space and financial resources. Calling the librarians “the best feature in the new library,” Brown said the number of staff has almost doubled at the branch, including the addition of an assistant branch supervisor, a second children’s librarian, and two library assistants specializing in shelving books.

“In general, the whole facility could not be more welcoming,” Brown continued. “I’ve spent lots of time there and listened to feedback. I heard some teenage boys – a hard group to impress – who said ‘This is really nice.’ I had a mom in with two little girls. They were so excited. They made a ‘welcome home’ card for the librarians, whom they all knew. I gave them a tour. They smiled from ear to ear the whole time. The mom was on the verge of tears. For someone who really relies on the library, who cares a lot about the library, then to see what we were able to do, it gets to her. It gets to all of us.”

The old library branch is presently under renovation and will remain the system’s administrative office. n

by Lauraleigh Guthrie