Our library is in a very rural part of Iowa, right next to the Minnesota border. We are the only building in town to offer computer/internet to our community. I am the one and only employee and I could not imagine another job that could hold my heart as my library does.

Since I am the only employee I have to also be available to our patrons as they come in. The tricky part is I invite our local Day care as well. These children only see the inside of the library because of the cooperation of the day care staff. They are mostly very low income and their parents do not use our facilities. I am their only chance to make the library a part of their lives. I am the one who sets their sights on what I can offer them, who plants the seed that I foster week after week knowing they see our building as one they can return to time and time again seeing a face they already know so well.

I wanted to make a space for all of my littlest patrons. Not only for Toddler Time but one they can take ownership of when they visit me. Our building is small, tan and adult. I want happy, color and child sized everything for them. I want them to walk into their space and feel they are special. I would love to have a big happy rug, bookshelves that are their height, small tables and chairs, new books that are just for them. I really believe giving them something they can claim will imprint on their little minds that the library is a place they can call a second home.

Our community has lost our grocery store and so much more. Our children have nowhere to go in our town. I need to do everything in my power to have a facility where they feel safe and wanted. One where they can come in for a moment or settle in for hours.