Monday Mornings

Every Monday morning at the public library in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas, a parade of strollers rolls through the building’s big, automatic glass doors, past the circulation and information desks on the ground floor, and up the elevators to the Youth Services Department on the third floor. Moms, dads, nannies, and grandparents come to take the youngest of library patrons to “Baby Storytime”. Library staff with smiling faces move out from behind the public service desk to greet them, many of them by name. Newcomers are welcomed as special guests, and are escorted to the storytime room. Thus begins a weekly ritual that puts babies on the road to a lifetime love of books, reading, and learning.