So the adults are catered for at the local library, but what about the little ones? Gone are the days when libraries were places of silence and complete calm, and where children were expected to be seen and not heard. Now we celebrate children and encourage engagement with all the functions a modern library provides. Of course, there are always books…

Books

There’s board books for babies, picture books, chapter books, books for older readers and books for teens but there’s so much more. Libraries also have:

• Graphic novels for kids and teens

• Manga

• Zines

• Kids non-fiction and Teen non-fiction

• VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) collection

Check out this page with recommended reading lists for kids and this one for youth.

eCollections

As with adults, the eCollections have so much to offer kids and teens. Our local library offers access to:

• Storybox Library, a huge library of stories being read aloud by a Australian storytellers.

• the International Children’s Digital Library with online picture books in various languages

• Borrowbox which has eBooks and eAudiobooks for children and teens and even eAudiobooks of nursery rhymes for the littlest ones in our lives

Our local library has a number of board games and oversized games anyone can play at the library. They also have computers with bright, large keyboards where kids can access Busy Things, online learning games for toddlers and pre-schoolers. With a library card, you can also access these online at home!

Without a doubt, some of the best things offered by the library are the Baby Time, Toddler Time and Preschool Story Time groups which run in most libraries during the school term. These groups are led by trained librarians and are full of stories and songs and are a great place to meet other kids and parents in your area. I highly recommend fitting one of these groups into your weekly routine if you have time.

For more information for little readers, click here