We are opening a lending library @ Lola!! Too exciting!
I went to Oxford University…so most of my student life was spent in a beautiful old musty smelling library like the above…bliss! This of course made a huge imprint on who I am…
Recently my (not so) silent partner came up with the fantastic idea of starting a lending library for children @ Lola…In Istanbul there are pretty much NO lending libraries for kids…other than their school libraries…so we really felt that this would be a fantastic opportunity for children in this city. At Lola we have always had a reading corner, and this idea just fit so organically with what Lola and I want to represent…
This Sunday morning we have a “Library Opening” Party @ Lola where kids will come and design and decorate their own library cards, help prepare a huge library sign, paint and embellish the new library furniture, and make their own books.
You can imagine that we have been researching and searching for great ideas and inspiration, both in terms of library design and layout for the children, and also in terms of children’s books…Thanks to the boxes of second hand books parents have kindly sent us, and generous sponsorship, we must have up to about 400 books at the moment! Yay! Thank you so much everyone who has/is supporting this project!
Here, I wanted to share with you some of the inspirational ideas I have found while getting our library started up!
Library design for example has evolved unbelievably over the years. Take the incredible Library of Picture Books in Iwaki City of Fukushima Prefecture by Tadao Ando …what can I say..? Its magnificent…
The Picture Book Museum, also known as the Picture Book Library, is located in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando designed this privately-owned special library mainly to serve three local preschools (“Works,” 2009; “Vol.210,” n.d.). However, since the opening of its doors in 2005, visitors have flocked to the library on its open-access days to see Ando’s design and to enjoy the collection of international children’s books.
The Library Initiative in New York also created some fantastic reading spaces…
Also check out the below:
The Maple Grove Children's Library
BiebBus: Amazing Dutch Children's Library
Tower of children’s books in Amsterdam public library
Beijing Poplar Picture Book Store
All these libraries are unbelievable in their design and modern aesthetic, but they also provide light, airy, comfortable and stimulating places for children to be inspired to read in… This is what we wanted to create @ Lola, but it is also something that we can all provide for our kids at home too…Ohdeedoh has some wonderful examples of how to bring the library into your houses…
With children, it is very much about the visuals, so it is important that they can see the books, the colors, so that they want to reach out and grab them…It is also important that they have comfortable places to sit and relax…small tables, cushions, comfy sofas. But this could pretty much be anywhere, a small closet reading nook, on a landing, in the corner of your own dining room!
At Lola the kids relax and read in a bedouin pavilion, this one from Wingreen…
…but there is a wealth of ideas of tents and nooks that you could create at home for your child to read in…
An indoor treehouse
A reading canopy and cushions
A quiet corner
Accessibility is the most important though, so that the kids can browse and pick up a book whenever they fancy…for this I LOVE the Nurseryworks Storytime bookshelf (Isabel has this at home!) and their new fantastic Tree bookshelf:
Nurseryworks Storytime bookshelf
Nurseryworks Tree bookshelf
Look at this innovative way of fitting your child’s library into the staircase…proof really that kids can read anywhere anyhow!
And finally…check out this library’s idea for a comfortable reading spot..!
Bathtime reading!
great idea,good luck .galya