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ABOUT THE CHILDREN's ROOM
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The Library Children's Room is the most safe, friendly, and welcoming public facility anywhere for youth. It is a haven for play, learning, socializing, and information seeking. No where outside their homes are children freer, or safer, or more welcome; no where are children surrounded by better influences (thousands of them!) or helped by more caring adults.
This Library plays a key role in the education of Albany's citizens, of all ages. The Children's Room and our collections work together to further this educational goal. We offer help with homework and research and with leisure and assigned reading. We gather special collections on request for teachers and students, as well as for caregivers and families.
Communication
If you wish to contact the staff of the Children's Department with requests, materials purchase suggestions, or any special inquiries, call 541-917-7583, or E-mail directly to youthservices@cityofalbany.net.
Collections
More than 40,000 items fill the Children's Room to answer questions, entertain, teach, and spark the imaginations of Albany's children.
We offer tens of thousands of picture books, beginning readers, board books, and fiction and nonfiction titles. Other collections include more than 100 circulating puppets, 1,500 feature films and informational videos, phonics instruction materials, Spanish language shelves, music on CD, CD-ROMs for home computers and almost 100 Wii games.
Our parents' shelf contains a broad array of helpful books on parenting, homeschooling, child development, social problems, and home-based caregiver materials to enable children and their families to thrive in a changing world.
The Room
For toddlers and prereaders and for older kids needing to relax, we offer stuffed toys, a doll house, toy phones, chess, checkers, wooden puzzles, coloring books, scratch paper, and crayons.
The Children's Room is furnished with comfortable, age-appropriate furniture, with lots of seating, secluded reading areas, and two study carrels.
We are generous with our office supplies for students who need them.
Computers
The Children's Room offers six computers for public use. They are unfiltered Internet access workstations, with word processing and games included, for Library patrons younger than 18, or for adults accompanying children in the room. Children under age 10 must be accompanied by an adult, sitting nearby, to use the computers. There are also four public computer catalogs to look up material in the Library's collections, and a self-check machine to check out items. Our Early Literacy Workstation, with special keyboard and mouse, bilingual English/Spanish programs, and more than 25 superb, child-friendly, educational computer games is always available. All computers are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Unattended Children Policy
To provide for the general welfare of all persons and to ensure the safety of children using the Albany Public Library, the policy of the Albany Public Library is:
- The Library cannot be responsible for children left unattended in the Library.
- Children under 10 years of age, shall, at all times, be attended and adequately supervised by a responsible caregiver at least 12 years old who shall be responsible for the child’s activity and behavior. Children should be in sight of their caregiver at all times.
- If a child is left in the Library or outside the Library after closing hours, an attempt will be made to reach the child’s parents or caregivers. If they cannot be reached, the Albany Police Department will be called after 15 minutes.
- The Oregon Revised Statutes (163.545) state: “A person having custody or control of a child under 10 years of age commits the crime of child neglect in the second degree if, with criminal negligence, the person leaves the child unattended in or at any place for such period of time as may be likely to endanger the health or welfare of such child.”
