Spotted Online – The case for making libraries full of toys and games

I first started reading Quartz because of a random link I stumbled across. I continued reading Quartz because of a few cool technical features the site uses. Today I read Quartz because at least once a week I encounter an article that really stops me in my tracks . . . and today it’s The case for making libraries full of toys and games that has my brain in gear.

The article, written by Angela Tung, explores the not-as-new-as-I-thought idea of libraries stocking toys and games and why such items of play are an excellent fit in the library environment. I’d talked to others before about how the library is again becoming a community center and source of afterschool care for children, but it wasn’t until this article that I knew the toy library concept has been around for several decades.

The first toy library was established in Los Angeles during the Depression. A dime store manager noticed that kids were shoplifting “making toys from the items, such as using thread spools for wheels of cars.” The manager informed Gertrude Peddie, the principal of a nearby school. Peddie then “went to local civic groups and together they formed Toy Loan, collected donated toys and operated out of a garage.”

Reading the article makes me very proud that we are supporting library game day, because getting games into the hands of those who cannot normally afford them means we get the chance to make the day better for some of the kids out there. And with a library setting as the center of the activity the kids should be surrounded by those who can help them learn and better enjoy the games.

Check out the Quartz article, and then consider getting down to your own local library to see if they’re carrying toys and games. And if not, maybe share this article with a librarian there. More kids need easy access to the tools of play so that they can enjoy the stuff some of us take for granted.

Related articles

• John Scalzi on the relationship between libraries and publishers [Confessions of a Science Librarian] (scienceblogs.com)
• Does your town have a toy library? (shoestringcottage.wordpress.com)