Library Field Trip to Penn’s Little Village

On Friday Mr. Man and I took a field trip to Penn’s Little Village, a learning space for babies through kindergarteners located at the Langhorne branch of the Bucks County Free Library.  I won’t lie; we do not live close by to this library but I kept hearing about how wonderful Penn’s Little  Village is so I decided that it was worth the drive to check it out.  Additionally, right now my household is running on borrowed time, so to speak, since we perhaps thought that the baby might have already come by now.

When Friday morning rolled around and Mr. Man and I had nothing planned, I decided to go for it.
I am something of a library tourist so it is not all together odd for me to go out of my way to visit an interesting library.  I was not at all disappointed by what we experienced either. The Langhorne Branch of the Bucks County Free Library with Penn’s Little Village really is a destination library.

Here is why the visit meant so much to me; I am in a bit of a library slump right now.  As a person who has been a library professional for over 10 years, I have been asking myself lately if this is the profession I want to stay in when I go back to work full-time.  I feel like lately when I take Mr. Man to the library I sometimes get disapproving looks at not all, but some, of the libraries that we frequent. Sometimes there is also signage that feels unfriendly to children and families.  In general, I have sometimes been feeling a little less than welcome as of late at public libraries.

Yes, toddlers can be a handful, but I know from working at libraries that families with small children are some of the biggest borrowers of books from the collection and bodies that come to programs.  Public libraries are very into collecting and recording statistics about library use.  These statistics are shared with the state and municipalities since both contribute tax dollars to the library yearly budget. Statistics are the proof that public libraries have that the library is not a dead concept they are in fact being used heavily by many people.

When I receibe disapproving looks in public libraires or am confronted with signage that is unfriendly in tone, it makes me feel both judged as a parent and like maybe I chose the wrong career path.  This is one of the reasons I found this trip to be so refreshing.  Penn’s Little Village feels like evidence that small children are not only welcome in libraries but are being catered to and have spaces designed just for them and their caregivers.

Before I explain why I loved about Penn’s Little Village, let me describe it.  It is a children’s museum type experience that is housed in a library.  If you were from the Philadelphia area, I would tell you that it is like a much smaller version of the Please Touch Museum.  Essentially, it is a space with smaller versions of real-life stores, places, experiences all miniaturized for play.  Everything in Penn’s Little Village is meant to be played with or interacted with.

At one point Mr. Man picked one of the flowers out of the flower box in front of the minature library.  I was surprised to find that the flower box was designed in such a way that the flowers could be taken out, examined, and put it back with ease.  The flower box was designed for play and investigation.  I had to stop myself from telling him no.  Nothing in Penn’s Little Village is off-limits to touch or interact with.

Penn’s Little Village is open all hours that the library is open. So essentially it is open 9am-8pm Monday-Thursday and 9am- 5pm Friday and Saturday.  It is closed on Sundays.  It contains a section for babies and non-walkers as well as toddlers and preschool aged children.  The entire village is a self-serve area with little staff involvement, which is good because it allows children and parents to explore with out the scrunity of outside authority.
The children’s department of the the library is located outside of Penn’s Little Village.  The children’s section contains books and materials that can be browsed or borrowed as well as other toys children can play with inside the library  If you care would like to read more about Penn’s Little Village click here.

Here are the things that I loved about Penn’s Little Village:

1. It is free! I love the Please Touch Museum but it can get spendy in hurry if you are not a member.  As I said Penn’s Little Village is like a minaturized version of the Please Touch Museum.
2. I loved that the library that it is housed in, the Langhorne Branch of the Bucks County Free Library, is not an especially large library.  Don’t get me wrong, this library has plenty of materials for both children and adults but I have worked in larger libraries during my career.  This makes me feel like a simular playspace might a do-able project that other libraries could replicate if they have the funds and will to do so.
3. It looked to me like the children’s books in the children’s section were circulating. When the shelves have a lot of space on them, I take this as a good sign. It looks like people are checking out items while they are at the library.
4. Mr. Man and I stayed there for at least two hours and we could have stayed much longer, but I was getting hungry.  I know if we lived in the area we would be frequent visitors.
5. I loved the camper that children could play in with the license plate said “Read”.

Anyway, we had a great time on our visit and it did restore my excitement in children’s public librarianship.  I wanted to share with you some of the other pictures of the exhibits in Penn’s Little Village.

There is also a school and a firestation inside Penn’s Little Village as well as the baby garden

What adventures have you been up to lately?

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