General Information

The 2008 January-May program brochure is now available! Check out the exciting line-up of entertainers, craft programs and special events for kids.

Get your little one on the Road to Early Literacy with storytimes at HPL!
Download the storytime brochure to learn more.

About the Room
The Children's Room has an art gallery look with 27 brightly-colored painted wood reliefs around the room. Two tall mock trees with mobile-like foilage greet visitors to the room. The wood reliefs and trees, as well as other features, were created by three Madison artists: Brenda Baker, Jon Edwards and David Wells.

Two stained glass windows depicting the sun and moon frame the bay window in the preschool area. These windows were in the Woodruff Room of the original building on this site. They were created by Debbie Smoker, a stained glass designer, formerly of Janesville.

The large cube in the preschool area and the crazy mirror were added to the room for Puzzlemania, the 1999 Summer Reading Program. Both the cube and the mirror were designed by the Children's Room staff and constructed by the library's maintenance staff.

In 2003, the Children's Room transformed one of the window alcoves into an area called KidSpace. KidSpace is a place where elementary-aged students can come to relax,read books and find activities for their age group.

Collection
The Children's Room has a diverse collection designed to meet the needs of children through approximately age 14. Materials from the Children's Room may be checked out at either the Self-Service Checkout in the Children's Room, Self-Service Checkout near the skylight or the library's regular Checkout.

Some of our special collections include:

Board Books
Holiday Collection
Spanish Collection
Teacher and Parent Collections
Educational Toys

Computers
The Children's Room has:

• 8 computers that provide access to the library catalog, including a special kids' catalog.
• 6 game computers that have 20 educational games. Sign up for a computer turn at the Children's Service Desk. Each child is guaranteed one 30-minute turn per day. Reservations can be made up to 3 days in advance at the Children's Service Desk or by phone at 758-6585.
• 6 KidSpace computers - The programs available on these computers are Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, the Internet and ten educational games.
• To use the Internet at the library, anyone under 18 must have a signed Internet Authorization Form on file and have their library card number with them.