{"id":14217,"date":"2016-11-01T00:01:28","date_gmt":"2016-11-01T04:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/?p=14217"},"modified":"2016-10-14T20:56:42","modified_gmt":"2016-10-15T00:56:42","slug":"ready-to-read-railroad-frisco-public-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/ready-to-read-railroad-frisco-public-library\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ready to Read Railroad at the Frisco Public Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you familiar with Swedish stickhandling balls? I wasn’t either until I immersed myself in the planning process for our new early literacy active learning center, The Ready to Read Railroad<\/a>. \u00a0The things that one learns in the library profession never ceases to amaze! As it turns out, the two-inch-diameter wooden balls rolled down and through the ramps and chutes on the magnetic wall in our STEM Depot very well. It was the sound of them hitting the tile floor that sent me on a search for quieter balls large enough not to be a choking hazard, yet small enough to fit through the chutes.\u00a0 I’m an expert in train bell repair now as well, but perhaps I should start at the beginning.<\/p>\n

Our director had been interested in creating an early literacy active learning center at our library for years, so she sent me and two other librarians to Maryland to visit the extraordinary Baltimore County Public Library System Storyvilles<\/a>. I found my happy place there and we came home inspired and determined to create a similar space for our community. Then Leadership Frisco, a local leadership initiative sponsored by our Chamber of Commerce, decided to make our plans for an early literacy area their class project for the year. They led a highly successful fundraising drive, raising over $180,000 for our project from local businesses and philanthropies. We hired James Bradberry and Associates<\/a>, the outstanding architectural firm that designed the BCPL Storyvilles, and we were off!<\/p>\n

Frisco has a rich railroad history, so we knew that we wanted a train. I sent our architects this rough sketch to give them a general idea of what we wanted:<\/p>\n

\"train-area-rough-sketch\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

James Bradberry and Associates sent us this in return:<\/p>\n

\"friscofinalrendering3\"<\/p>\n

And the above, my friends, is why I am a librarian and not an architect! What followed was months of intensive planning, involving everything from working with our architects in designing each learning activity in the train to creating staff procedures to manage the new service to carefully selecting each and every toy and book for the active learning center. We worked with Safe Space Concepts<\/a> in Houston, and they created fantastic custom vinyl blocks for us that look like packing crates and luggage. Do you know how many STEM activities and sets of play food include choking hazards?!? (Hand y tip: order one of the Safety 1st<\/sup> Small Object Choking Testers\u2014don’t fall for the toilet paper tube test.)<\/p>\n