Allen Public Library

The first 5-week Parent-Child Workshop series was offered in February 2019, followed by the second five-week series in September 2019. During 2019, 39 families registered to participate. The Family Place Libraries implementation was the Library Department's featured project for FY2019 and the City of Allen made a video to highlight the benefits. You can view the video at: https://youtu.be/f-yrH5xuRdEAs you can imagine 2021 has been a challenge when it comes to highlighting our Family Place Library. The workshops we have done in the past have been of great value to our patrons, but because of the pandemic, the Allen Public Library did not host in-person programs until September 2021. In the early part of 2021, the youth services staff created virtual programming for preschoolers, including story time, book reading, and early childhood tips for parents. We also hosted some virtual events like music and movement and a dance party. We supplemented the lack of in-person programs with grab and go craft kits which were available to anyone in the Children's Library or via curbside pickup (while supplies lasted). We also created preschool Take & Make kits, which were available in limited quantities with a free registration.Starting in September 2021 the Library began hosting some in-person programs again, including limited, in-person story times. We kicked off our return to programming with a Fall Festival, which saw attendance of 750 people, including many preschool aged children. We have also seen a steady increase in attendance at our weekly story times as well.We have been lucky enough to take some of our Family Place toys and have them circulate as STEM kits. We have also purchased new items appropriate for ages 2 - 5 to circulate as STEM kits as well. These kits have been incredibly well received. In June 2021 we were able to put some of our Family Place toys back in the Children's Area. This area is popular once again, especially since we added our in-person story times. We also installed 2 AWE computer stations at the end of 2020 and an additional station in 2021, which have been well used by parents and preschoolers.Our patrons have been grateful for all the work we have done, both virtual and in-person. We look forward to slowly adding back some of our regular programming as we continue to adjust to challenges set by the pandemic.