SANTA CLARA COUNTY, CALIF. – The Santa Clara County Library District (SCCLD) is thrilled to announce the creation of interactive children’s spaces in all of its community libraries. Storybook SCCLD play spaces are designed to captivate young children and their caregivers, while promoting the five early learning principles of Every Child Ready to Read – talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing, all in one place.
Playing is crucial to a child’s development. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, research shows that developmentally appropriate play can promote social-emotional, cognitive, language, and self-regulation skills that build executive function which contributes to school readiness, setting up little learners for future success.
Each library’s play space is a magical environment that will reflect something special about each community, at the intersection of tech and nature. These play spaces will incorporate interactives for little hands to practice motor skills, themed reading nooks for quiet play, playhouses for imaginative play, toddler slides for active play, a sensory learning area for babies and pre-walking children, a balance element for all abilities, plus seating for children and their families. These spaces foster a passion for books and reading while providing valuable early literacy experiences that support grade level reading proficiency. This project is being designed and developed with experts in museum quality interactive spaces, Luci Creative, Ravenswood Studio, and Group 4 Architecture.
“Storybook SCCLD creates inclusive and joyful environments where children are motivated and enthusiastic about learning through play,” County Librarian Jennifer Weeks said. “We are incorporating different types of play that support early literacy skill building, featuring the alphabet, numbers, colors, plus sight and rhyming words in an enchanting space, meeting children in their imaginative worlds.”
As part of SCCLD’s 5-year Strategic Plan, one of our four priorities is to Inspire, “building the foundations of literacy within our community.” No other library in the state, and very few in the nation, offers this immersive early literacy experience.
From January through Summer 2025, SCCLD will be working location by location to prepare, install and launch the play spaces. To keep patrons safe during construction, all or most of the children’s room will be closed to the public during its library’s installation. Children’s materials will be made available in other parts of the library, or patrons are invited to visit one of our other libraries not under construction.
The first play space will be installed at Saratoga Library, starting on January 20, 2025. Please visit the Storybook SCCLD webpage to see the play space installation schedule for your library. This page will also introduce you to the team of friendly robots who are your guides through Storybook SCCLD. The webpage will be updated each month with brand new information, so please bookmark it for future use.
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About the Santa Clara County Library District
The Santa Clara County Library District (SCCLD) promotes knowledge, ideas, and cultural enrichment. Founded in 1914, its collection includes more than 2.3 million books, videos, CDs, DVDs/Blu-rays, audiobooks, eBooks and extensive online resources accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.
The Library Journal has repeatedly recognized SCCLD as one of America’s Star Libraries, rated it as a 5-Star library in their 2022 Index of Public Library Service, one of only five library systems in the United States with expenditures over $30 million given this honor. In 2014 and 2019, SCCLD won Innovator Awards from the Urban Libraries Council. SCCLD also received a Challenge Award in 2019 from the California State Association of Counties and an Innovative Project of the Year Award (Large District) from the California Special Districts Association in 2020.
SCCLD includes two bookmobiles, an online library, seven community libraries and one branch library, serving the cities of Campbell, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Saratoga, and the unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County. In Calendar Year 2023, SCCLD had over 373,000 library accounts, more than 1.2 million unique website visits, and a circulation of nearly 11.3 million items. Program attendance was over 183,000.
Find the Santa Clara County Library District online: www.sccld.org
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You can also find us on YouTube: scclchannel or @SCCLD
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Contact:
Jennifer Weeks, County Librarian
Diane Roche, Director of Communications
Mariana Walker, Communications Officer
droche@sccl.org / mwalker@sccl.org
