Land O Lakes Branch Library

No audio CDs, the building is laid out in kind of confusing manner with some materials presented on spinner racks in what might be a hall way.

A few Saturdays ago I needed to kill some time with the little one while my wife did her PIYO thing. I decided to swing by the Land O’ Lakes Library and see if we could find some little kid books. What we found wound up being so much cooler than I expected.
Everything seemed relatively normal when I pulled in to park. On one side of the lot there was the library, not quite awake yet from a hard Friday of partying (they have a late opening time of ten on Saturdays). On the other side there were a few tables handing out fliers and… people dancing and singing and extolling the virtues of Obamacare. A public library that actually engages the public? Nice.
I walked passed the Obamacare people (hey, I’ve enrolled my daughter) and entered the library lobby. Here I stood with a number of families waiting for the library to let us in. To my left were a couple of classrooms that were filled with people who wanted to know about Obamacare (the following week it would be filled with people taking a class on digital photography). Inside the library I could see an adult section of books and DVD collection that didn’t seem quite as impressive as my local library. Right inside the door there was a table that had flyers detailing local happenings laid out in easy to read fashion. There was also a small store room where you could purchase gently used books.
When the doors to the library finally opened I made my way to the children’s room that is located to the left of the entrance. It is an entire room that is laid out with neatly arranged children’s books. The room is beautiful. It is full of bright lights from the big windows that look outside (unfortunately they overlook the parking lot, not the beautiful scenery you get at the New Tampa library). There were some tables and chairs set up so my daughter immediately raced over to one of the chairs and began pulling it out and then pushing it in. After a few moments of this, she began climbing on and off the chair. Around this time I became aware of a large group of toddlers heading my direction. Have you ever seen a toddler flash mob? That’s what it looked like. I grabbed the little one, clutched the snacks in my pocket a bit tighter and tried to act as a shield. Whatever these toddlers had up their booger encrusted sleeves, it didn’t seem good. But right before they hit our table the veered off and vanished, herded into some side room behind the kid’s circulation area. Breathing a sigh of relief, I picked out a book to read. The kind lady behind the children’s circulation desk looked at my daughter and I and said, «Toddler time is about to get started in the room behind me. You and your daughter are welcome to join us.»
Say what? Toddler time? That’s what that flash mob was all about? I had never heard of such a thing. I walked the little one hesitantly into the room to check it out. As soon as she saw the puppet and snacks she started saying «Yeah. Yeah.» I knew we weren’t getting out of there anytime soon. Toddler time consisted of playing in gooey stuff and food coloring for a few minutes (my daughter wouldn’t touch the gooey stuff but she loved squirting the food coloring all over herself), story time and then healthy snacks. Afterwards the toddlers were dispersed to their own homes to take the naps that most of them so desperately needed.
Toddler time at the Land O’Lakes Library was such a fabulous, unexpected, event. It gave my daughter a chance to experience some new things and to interact with other kids her age (and by interact I mean sit beside and completely ignore). According to the lady running it, they do toddler time the first Saturday of each month. From the looks of the branches Facebook page and calendar, this isn’t the only event they do. They seem to have different things happening throughout the month. A library that is really interested in educating and supporting the community that it is located in. I can dig that. For that reason (and the toddler time), I will be back.