18/08/2025
Wow! 😍
A Virginia library is leading the way in making public spaces more accommodating for parents of small children with its innovative parent-child computer workstations! Located in the children's room at Henrico County Public Library's Fairfield branch, the 'Parent & Child Carrel' feature a computer workstation alongside an enclosed safe play area for babies and toddlers. The design was the brainchild of library staff who had observed that the standard computer lab model didn't work well for parents of young children. "We've seen parents and caregivers who would need to do adult work, like apply for a job or create a document for community college and so on, and if they had little infants and toddlers, we saw that it was very tricky to do," says Barbara Weedman, the Henrico County Public Library Director.
When the library was remodeled, the staff asked the architects if they could include ready-made furniture that addressed this need in the final design. When the architects couldn't find any good options, they asked a small children's furniture company, TMC The Makers Creative, in Ann Arbor, Michigan to create a new kind of work carrel that could accommodate both parents and young children. Since the 'Parent & Child Carrels' were unveiled, they've been a tremendous hit with library patrons. As Weedman observed: "Librarians love to help, and we love to give access to people, and it can be tricky when you have little ones. And I think this has resonated with many people, because they can relate, juggling all these things in our busy lives."
