In our continued quest to be a library for everyone, we strive to offer the widest possible access with the fewest barriers as possible. So we’re thrilled to offer a new way for community members to use the library and read library books when they’re out and about in the community: pop-up libraries!
Pop-up libraries are library collections—both physical and digital—that you can access outside library buildings, in spaces where people already congregate. Our goal is to provide great reads and enrichment for community members in locations outside the library, no library card or checkouts needed.
For middle & high schoolers at the CRC
Our first Pop-Up Library was installed this spring in the lobby of the Park District of Oak Park’s Community Recreation Center (CRC), at 229 Madison St., Oak Park.
While this collection includes titles for all ages, it’s particularly geared toward the middle and high schoolers who gather at the CRC after school and on weekends. Students are invited to take books off the shelf to read while they’re there.
“Our partners have shared that students are visiting the CRC for multiple reasons—esports and basketball, discreet mental health services, and to just hang out with friends in the free lobby space, which is where we put the Pop-Up Library,” says Community Engagement Librarian Sarah Yale (pictured).
“Thanks to funding from the Friends of the Oak Park Public Library, we’ve stocked the shelves with graphic novels, short stories, books in verse—diverse titles that appeal to tweens and teens and can be enjoyed socially and in one sitting.”
Library staff visit regularly to maintain the collection and rotate items, to keep it “fresh and interesting,” Yale added.
“We want to find more partners who will champion and encourage use,” Yale said, adding that a pop-up library could be a shelf of books in a laundromat or coffee shop, or an early literacy scavenger hunt activity at a grocery store. “You’re there anyway, so how can the library help make the experience more language-rich?”
