Librarian Linda Stiles Taylor writes:

We have enjoyed ten wonderful new tables and twenty-two chairs for elementary-aged children, for five months now, thanks to the Forest Grove Library Foundation. After years of battered, heavy, adult-sized tables with sharp corners, and tippy adult-sized chairs that seemed to say, “stand on me” to little people, we are very excited about the change in the Children’s Area.

The new tables are colorful and inviting. The three different table shapes are frequently rearranged into different configurations for classes, events and families. The chairs are comfortable, made of stackable wood, and designed to reduce the chance of tipping over backward.

The whole Children’s Area looks more attractive and more inviting to the age group it is intended for. If you visit the children’s area nowadays, it definitely says, “KIDS.” And, what do you know? This summer numbers were up for kids completing the Summer Reading program. A more welcoming environment helps!

We still have a ways to go in improving the Children’s Area. With the Foundation’s help, we will add additional furnishings in the early childhood area, a child-sized early literacy computer, a big “sense of arrival” feature at the entrance to the children’s area, and some additional shelving to make the library collection more accessible to kids. So keep checking us out … great things to come!