Children’s Libraries

Noyes Library for Young Children, Kensington, Maryland

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Q. Are there stand-alone libraries serving children (other than those in schools, that is)?

A. We know of eight administered by public libraries, one at an academic institution, and one at a university medical center.

The oldest of the free-standing children’s libraries is in Palo Alto, California, established more than 70 years ago, the Children’s Library, administered by the Palo Alto City Library.

The others are:

Noyes Library for Young Children, Kensington, MD (pictured), administered by the Montgomery County Libraries

Huguenot Children’s Library of New Rochelle, NY (New Rochelle Public Library)

Fumo Family Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia

Mamie’s Place Children's Library & Learning Center, Alexander City, AL (adjacent to Adelia M. Russell Library)

Prairie Grove Children’s Library, Prairie Grove, AR (part of the Washington County Library System)

Octavia Fellin Public Children’s Library, Gallup, NM

A little different:

ImaginOn, a collaborative venture of The Charlotte Mecklenburg Library & Children’s Theatre of Charlotte

Based in an academic setting, the Cotsen Children’s Library is a special library within the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at Princeton (N.J.) University Library.  Finally, there’s the Grace Rea Garrett Children's Library and Mr. & Mrs. G. Lloyd Bunting Sr. Family Resource Center at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

We’d be happy to learn of more such libraries! Send information to library@ala.org.

For more information on the value of library service to children—in all types of libraries—see Add It Up! or the newly re-launched Every Child Read to Read portal.