105. Hennepin County, Washburn Library

The kids' area is to the left inside the door. There are large windows on three sides,  plenty of big tables and chairs by the windows, and at least four laminated kid-size tables with "can you find?" and "I spy alphabet" challenges. The northwest corner has an arc of bench seats beneath the windows and a mural in the "dome"--see the pointed structure in the photo below. An interesting series of photos of toddlers learning to use blocks seems to be a documentation by a teacher at a Reggio Amelia-inspired school, and brochures were available. A quotation with these pictures says, "Relationships are at the core of learning." So true!

For the size of the library, there seemed to be relatively few computers; in this neighborhood, it may be that most patrons have computer access at home. All the computers I saw seemed to be busy.

The adult area is to the right inside the door. It has a nice rounded window area for browsing, and even a large jigsaw puzzle, partially assembled, on a table. I haven't seen that in a library before, and as a jigsaw fan, I think it is a neat idea.

There was a place to create magnetic poetry, a display called "Washburn reads" that the staff person I spoke to seemed to agree was composed of recommendations from patrons to patrons (a nice idea), and a National Book Festival display.

8/24/12, bus