CMU Park Library opens family study room
The Family Study Room in Park Library includes a children's area complete with child-sized table and chairs, book and other activities.
As of Jan. 9, Central Michigan’s Park Library opened a family study room on the first floor. It is available for students and faculty, along with their children to use.
The room is a self-contained space that provides the necessary materials for a student or staff member to get work done as well as materials for a child to be entertained. For the parent or guardian, the room contains a standing desk that is adjustable to other heights, a computer, an adult-sized table and chairs, a private nursing room, etc. For the children, there are child-sized tables and chairs as well as books and toys for younger children to engage with.
“I think if you've got a toddler and you're holding on to them, being around the [library's] atrium is kind of a scary proposition,” Dean of Libraries Kathy Irwin said. “But sometimes they don’t always have reliable childcare or they just needed to get away from the house or apartment and have a place to study and bring their child with them.
“What if they didn't necessarily know if their children were welcome in the library? Or, if it was (allowed), how could they go about doing that?”
The idea for the room was first started by Central Family Connects, a student organization on campus. The idea was presented to Irwin and the Associate Dean of Libraries Timothy Peters, last spring.
“Long before I joined CMU, they've been wanting to create a women's center,“ Irwin said. “So, when you think about math or you think about the space where the Volunteer Center is, there's the Multicultural Academic Support Services for students, and there's the Veterans Support Center there too.
“There's nothing for women. There's nothing for parents and caregivers and yet, maybe there's a need for that. So here in the library, we can't become a center for a student organization, but what could we do to support that population?”
Irwin said she and Peters gathered a team of people from departments such as Children's Learning Lab, the Volunteer Center and Student Disabilities Services to gather diverse input in order to create a space that's welcoming, comfortable and safe for children and adults to be in at the same time.
"They not only planned what was in the space and how we kind of organized it, but also what kind of policies make sense,” Irwin said. “So we decided it's going to be a locked room. People who want to use the room have to register for it so your ID card will just let you into space. We will add the access to the ID card like the other study rooms over here."
Student and faculty members can register their Central ID card to gain access to the room here.
