Alright, here's what we do.
I just got an email from Betsy, who's helping to organize the People's Library at Occupy Wall Street. [The Library's getting great coverage, btw, and GalleyCat reports they just posted their OWSLibrary catalog online.]
Anyway, I'd asked what the situation was, what ages of kids were there, what kind of stuff could they actually use, and what's the best way to get it to them?
The short answer: take your kid and visit Occupy Wall Street yourself, and take a few books you can leave behind. Or a board game, or a Rubik's Cube, or some crayons.
The longer answer:
As far as the age ranges go, we see a lot of kids in strollers and baby carriers--pre-readers with handfuls of pre-K/Kindergarteners running about and drips and drabs of older grade school kids.Betsy also reports that her 5-year-old son "has designated himself a children's librarian and arranges the books for visual impact whenever he's on site."One thing I wish we had more of--board games. We've been trying to keep checkers and chess available, but the pieces tend to wander off. Something easy to engage in without too many little pieces. what would that be?
A week or two ago we had crayons and coloring books--a dedicated art station. I'd like to see that return.
I think most parents who are ready to bring kids to Occupy Wall Street also leave the house ready to keep their kids fed and entertained, but I'd like to have more fun things for kids to engage in while they're there. Rubik's Cubes? Puzzles? You probably have better ideas than I have.
As far as organized mailings or book drives, I think the best bet for us right now is to just encourage people to come out and visit us. Our needs (& opportunities) are ever-changing--there's always room for more folks to pitch in where they can.
Have you high-fived a librarian today?
the People's Library at Occupy Wall Street [peopleslibrary.wordpress.com]
images: top - OWS Library kids' section by man bartlett; above - kids painting posters via imgur
Chess and checkers pieces wandering off. Other materials that the librarian would like to see returned. Sounds like the OWS Library needs to start implementing late fees...and not just on the 1%.