BEYOND BOOKS: Kingsland Library an all-around community space
Kids design jungles in art trays during sensory play, part of the weekly storytime at Kingsland Public Library. Story time is held in the Anne Welder Meeting Room beginning at 10 a.m. every Wednesday. Staff photos by Suzanne Freeman
Little fingers grab the sides of colorful plastic trays filled with kinetic sand, modeling dough, beans, plastic plants, and silk flowers. After finding a place among friends at small tables, the youngsters design their own jungle scene as part of storytime at the Kingsland Branch Library, 125 Polk St.
Children’s Librarian April Puryear calls it sensory play.
“We start our storytimes with three songs and three stories, then have our sensory play,” she said. “It’s just a lot of fun. It’s not criss-cross applesauce, not here. They get to play.”
Around 30 children showed up to play and socialize at a recent Wednesday storytime. Proof that a good time was had by all: None of the kids cried, whined, or hit. They were 100 percent engaged, 100 percent of the time (with an occasional break for a snack or drink).
Every Wednesday at 10 a.m., the Anne Welder Meeting Room fills up with children ages newborn to fifth grade, accompanied by friends and family of all ages. Welder volunteered at the library for more than 30 years before her death. She served in multiple supporting roles, including president of the Friends of the Kingsland Library group.
The spacious Welder room was recently refloored, part of a minor library renovation that included moving and rearranging designated reading areas, repainting, and adding creature-comfort features throughout the building.
With new floors, the meeting room is more amiable to reading time activities and a special Friday event, Coffee and Chaos, when grownups bring their coffee to watch their kids play on the library’s BIG toys: trucks, cars, indoor playscapes, giant blocks, and an indoor roller coaster.
The Bluebonnet Quilt Club, Highland Lakes Metal Detecting Club, Kingsland Lions Club, Girl Scouts, Kingsland Chamber of Commerce, Llano County Democrats, and Highland Lakes Republican Women all use the room for their regular meetings. Literacy Highland Lakes holds weekly tutoring sessions for high school equivalency degrees.
You could say the room is the center of civic life in Kingsland, but that would not do the rest of the library justice.
When the kids are not participating in storytime or contained chaos in the meeting room, they still have a special place in the library. The Children’s Reading Room is a circular (think Oval Office) space with books, comfortable chairs (including a red rocking chair for nursing mothers), small tables, rugs, pillows, toys, and art supplies. The well-stocked art area is called The Maker Space. Puryear likens it to “a big hug.”
“This is a fantastic room, and the kids really love it,” she said. “We used to do storytime in here, but it got too big. We had to move it into the meeting room.”
Puryear apologized for the room’s disorderly look, but this visitor saw it as an enriching and inviting space, obviously well loved by parents and children alike. It exuded a “come play, come read, come have fun” vibe.
Puryear has worked at the Kingsland Branch Library for 13 years. Previously, she volunteered at the Llano County Library and mentored young children. She raised her now-25-year-old daughter in the Llano County Library System. The young girl who Puryear took to local storytimes is about to graduate from law school.
“I have always loved libraries,” Puryear said.
Her reverance was vividly apparent as she pointed out each section to a visitor on an impromtu tour.
“This is our Junior Section, for second to seventh grade,” said Puryear, walking into a world of planets, rocket ships, and stars. “They have their own little space away from the children’s library, with room for games and coloring sheets and art supplies or comfortable areas if they just want to sit and be.”
The tour continued to the young adult section, which has a whole new look and is being rearranged around a large table recently donated by a library founder.
“We moved the young adult section and made it better,” Puryear said. “We painted the teal shelves black and moved the bookcases so they flow better with the rest of the library.”
Like most libraries, the Kingsland facility sorts fiction from nonfiction, further divided by the Dewey Decimal System. The librarians also set up special sections for graphic novels, Spanish and bilingual books for all ages, large-print books, and the classics.
“We don’t shelve the classics with the rest of the books,” Puryear said. “We keep them all here together, where it’s easier to find. Classics are very popular.”
The adult section has sitting areas for people who just want to read. On Wednesday, Yarns, Threads, and Friends, a group that knits, stitches, and crochets together, sets up shop at a nearby table to practice their art and share tips of the trade.
“Anyone can come and join them,” Puryear said. “You don’t even have to know how to knit or crochet. They will teach you. They are a great group of people.”
Along with its book collection, the library has an extensive selection of movies onDVD, including classics. Binge boxes are set up for those looking to indulge in hours of movies with actors like Shirley Temple or John Wayne. Collections of whole seasons of some TV series are also available.
The Kingsland Branch Library provides computer work stations with internet connection and a friendly staff ready to help patrons with any problem. On a recent visit, Library Tech Winston DeFord helped a woman print documents from her phone on the library’s printer.
“Some people come in and are stressed out,” Puryear said. “They don’t know how to work the computer and maybe they need to make a living will, or pay their taxes, or apply for a job. We tell them, ‘We are going to help you figure this out. There’s nothing to worry about.’”
Even the main entrance is inviting and enlightening. During the summer, reading contest prizes are lined up in a display case on one side. The other side has seasonal books, free magazines (including 101 Fun Things to do in the Highland Lakes and The Picayune Magazine), and an amazing life-size tree made of paper that’s home to stuffed owls, birds, butterflies, and other insects.
As you walk into the air-conditioned library from the main entrance, visitors are greeted with this acrostic message: “When you Enter this Library Consider yourself One of the special Members of an Extraordinary family.”
The welcome sign conveys the main goal of the Kingsland Branch Library.
“We want everyone to leave our library better than when they came in,” Puryear said.
The Kingsland Branch Library at 125 Polk St. is open from 9 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. For more information, visit the library’s Facebook page or call 325-388-3170.