Rockland Public Library is a Family Place Library

Rockland, Maine - This week the Rockland Public Library completed their second successful  series of Family Place Libraries™ Parent / Child Workshops  with capacity family participation.   Workshops consist of five once-a- week play sessions for area children  from  newborn to three years of age ,  and their parents or caregivers.  Gathering in the  Library’s Community Room  filled with age- appropriate new toys, they play, mingle with other families, and  parents have the opportunity to ask questions, one on one, with visiting professionals in the fields of nutrition, fitness, speech, language and reading, child development and play.

With the latest session finished,  Jean Young , Rockland’s  Children’s  Librarian , will be rotating the new toy collection into  the comfortable  Children’s  Area which already holds  a  train table, doll house, toy box, thousands of books, movies, and

audio CDs.
 
Being a “Family Place Library™” means that Rockland Public Library is part of a unique group of public libraries that not only provide children’s books , but also  serve as community gathering places that promote emergent literacy, support healthy child and family development, and encourage lifelong learning.  The Library welcomes families with young children with a wide assortment of books, toys, music, and multimedia materials , and offers developmentally appropriate programs for very young children as well as elementary-school-age children , teens and adults.

A key component of the Family Place™ model is library staff trained in family support, child development, and parent education.   As stated on their website www.familyplacelibraries.org, “Family Place Libraries™ is a network of children’s librarians nationwide who believe that literacy begins at birth and that libraries can help build healthy communities by nourishing healthy families.  The Family Place Libraries network currently includes more than 300 sites in 23 states and continues to grow.”  Miss Jean attended Family Place training in New York  in  2012 and  this September, the Coordinator of  National Family Place Libraries™, Kathleen Deerr, toured the library, inspected the children’s area, and presented the Rockland Public Library with it's official    Family Place™ banner.

The next Family Place™ workshop will be held in May of 2014.  In the meantime you are invited to enjoy the welcoming space designed for families in the Rockland Public Library’s Children’s Room, the Children’s Garden (before it's put to bed till Spring), as well as all the other sections of the Library; visit with friends, think large thoughts, and catch up on the latest best seller, or make use of the many and various resources available.

 For more information please contact Jean Young, Children’s Librarian at 594-0310.