Supporting All Patrons: Family Friendly Library Spaces
Monday, March 31, 2025
12:00 - 1:00 p.m.
Online (Zoom)
Patrons with children face unique challenges and barriers when it comes to utilizing library services and accessing one-on-one research help from librarians. They are often balancing school, work and their own children and have specific needs allowing for more productive work sessions at the library.
Research shows small offerings such as lactation spaces, child-friendly furniture and toys, stroller accessibility, and educational activities all help patrons feel welcome at the library (Scott & Varner, 2020); patrons need ways to keep their children occupied.
At Eastern Illinois University, Booth Library implemented a multi-space Family Hub to help meet the needs of their students, faculty, staff and community.
Join librarians Michele McDaniel and Amy Odwarka to learn how the library built this new service point from ideation to ribbon cutting and all points in between. This presentation will help all academic and public librarians visualize how they can create their own family friendly library spaces for all budget levels.
All ILA Noon Network webinars are free. The webinar recordings are available to ILA personal members shortly after the webinars. Registration for all live webinars is limited to Illinois libraries.
Register to attend this webinar
About the Speakers
Michele McDaniel is a librarian and educator with more than eleven years of academic and school library experience. For the past seven years has served as Education Librarian and Coordinator of the Ballenger Teachers Center at Eastern Illinois University's Booth Library and supports EIU’s teacher preparation programs. Her areas of expertise include children’s literature and youth services librarianship.
She has a B.A. in English from Calvin University, MLIS from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Master’s of Education from Eastern Illinois University. She is mother to four children, ranging from age one to age ten.
As a First Year Experience/Student Success librarian and Assistant Professor at Eastern Illinois University, Amy Odwarka brings 25+ years as a classroom teacher and school librarian in the public education sector to the higher education community.
Her expertise in active learning, backward design and using community building to create positive classroom experiences are rooted in standards centered information literacy education. Amy’s research interests include the relationship between academic libraries and student persistence, culturally relevant teaching methods in academic libraries and how visualization and mapping lead students to stronger research practice.
Her education and training have taken her through the BIG 10 at The Ohio State University (BS of Education) and University of Wisconsin (MLIS), to the college town of Charleston, IL where she is holds an MA in Communication and Leadership from EIU. Go Panthers!
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