Williamsburg Regional Library plans to convert the children's area in its Croaker Road branch into a hybrid library and children's museum with interactive areas.
Williamsburg Regional Library plans to convert the children's area in its Croaker Road branch into a hybrid library and children's museum with interactive areas. (Williamsburg Regional Library / HANDOUT)

If you stop by the children’s area at Williamsburg Regional Library’s James City County branch today, you’ll find rows of bookshelves and tables for reading or studying, but the space will look very different next year.

Williamsburg Regional Library Executive Director Betsy Fowler envisions a large-scale renovation to turn the space into hybrid between a library and children’s museum, combining the section’s extensive children’s book collection with interactive exhibits and activities that will teach kids early skills related to science, technology, engineering, art and math.

Advertisement

WRL Youth Services Director Sandy Towers said the project is part of an initiative to increase programs and events aimed toward families that was introduced by Fowler when she joined WRL in 2017. After noticing the success of Steam Saturdays, a monthly event with hands-on activities that teach kids multi-disciplinary learning fundamentals, WRL leaders began to look for ways to offer similar programs on a more regular basis.

“The thought was, ‘let’s not just do Steam Saturdays one Saturday a month, let’s continue it seven days a week,'” Towers said. “It was Betsy’s vision and design to make this place come to fruition, and it’s happening and we’re excited, and everyone that we talk with about the program and the the Ideas Studio can’t wait for it to open.”

A look at the current children's area in the James City County library.
A look at the current children's area in the James City County library. (Rodrigo Arriaza / Virginia Gazette)

The library’s children’s area is approximately 7,000 square feet, and hasn’t been remodeled since it first opened in 1996, Fowler said. She said the new children’s area, called the Kiwanis Kid’s Ideas Studio, will be designed for kids from birth through age 12, and will feature toys and activities that encourage families to learn together and develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

“The library is a center for learning in our community,” she said. “The best learning environments offer a rich variety of educational experiences. Building on the existing library resources, the Kiwanis Kid’s Idea Studio will be an innovative and interactive learning space for families across the region.”

Activity stations at the Ideas Studio will include a play village with a market, veterinary clinic and house to teach children vocabulary development and literacy, an area with virtual reality headsets, a microscope station and a viewer box where kids can examine real animal X-rays, she said.

A conceptual rendering of the play village planned for the new Kiwanis Kids Ideas Studio
A conceptual rendering of the play village planned for the new Kiwanis Kids Ideas Studio (Williamsburg Regional Library / HANDOUT)

Funding for the renovation

The section will bear the Kiwanis name due to a $100,000 donation that the area’s three Kiwanis Club chapters have pledged to the project. Other donations for the project’s costs have come in from Publix, Noah’s Ark Veterinary Hospital and anonymous donors, Fowler said. The fundraising effort for the project was led by the Friends of WRL Foundation, a nonprofit group that aims to supplement municipal funding for the regional library system’s services and facilities. Friends of WRL Foundation President Sam Sadler said its Board of Directors is excited to raise funds for the renovation, and that it will attract families to the James City County library from across the region.

The project is expected to cost a total of $550,000, Fowler said. While the Friends of WRL Foundation and other donors have pledged funds toward furniture and equipment costs as well as the purchase of children’s science exhibits and new wooden shelving, James City County also will pay for the renovation work through its Capital Improvement budget.

The county’s Board of Supervisors awarded a contract for the construction work to Virtexco Corporation for $310,000 at its meeting Sept. 10. The county will pay $213,000 of that cost, while the library system and the Friends of the WRL Foundation will pay the remaining $97,000.

A look at the new bookshelves and reading nook area planned for the renovation of the James City County library children's area.
A look at the new bookshelves and reading nook area planned for the renovation of the James City County library children's area. (Williamsburg Regional Library / HANDOUT)

Renovations will include the addition of new carpeting, painting, improved electrical and light fixtures and a glass wall to separate the area and to add soundproofing and enhance security. Construction will begin this fall, and is expected to be completed in early 2020.

Missy Zimmerman, president of the Kiwanis Club of Williamsburg, said the club agreed to work with the Kiwanis Club of Colonial Capital and the Kiwanis Club of Toano to fund the project. Together, the three clubs have pledged to donate at least $100,000 to the project over the next five years, which would repay the Friends of WRL Foundation for the upfront construction costs.

She said the project fits squarely into Kiwanis’ goal of supporting children. Kiwanis Club members also are interested in volunteering at the Ideas Studio once it’s up and running, she said. The Kiwanis Club of Williamsburg plans to raise funds for the project through its yearly fundraisers, including the Shrimp Feast and its annual lobster weekend in November.

“The mission of Kiwanis, which is over 100 years old now, is to improve the lives of children, and there are many ways that you can do that, but a great way is to provide educational opportunities to expand kids minds," Zimmerman said.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
https://www.dailypress.com/virginiagazette/va-vg-wrl-jcc-library-childrens-area-renovation-0911-20190917-o7qewxsgj5atpd43u6s2queiaa-story.html
www.dailypress.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2019-43
224050
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:KXBW3UBNFITJOEO522A5KFNHBR5T4SP6
<urn:uuid:c7cd5dd3-d808-4b42-97a0-18e0efe1479d>
2019-10-22T18:03:34Z
23.62.6.234
text/html
sha1:QHNFUGPI45EWWOEP7PJMBXOKAGGOYQVV
<urn:uuid:8e86f4f8-6024-46ac-b181-36ece2373028>
https://www.dailypress.com/virginiagazette/va-vg-wrl-jcc-library-childrens-area-renovation-0911-20190917-o7qewxsgj5atpd43u6s2queiaa-story.html
response
<urn:uuid:ece1f414-0f9d-4441-bf95-0dfa99c160f3>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2019-43
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for October 2019
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-166.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.16 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.1-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: http://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/