The Portal of Serendipity: Public Libraries, Children's Rooms, and the Importance of Public Space to Caregiver

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dc.contributor.advisorHong, Emily
dc.contributor.authorDallman, Zora
dc.date.accessioned2024-07-12T18:40:02Z
dc.date.available2024-07-12T18:40:02Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.abstractThis thesis offers an exploration of children’s rooms in public libraries as a critical resource for parents and caregivers of young children. Through a case study of the Jones Library in Amherst Massachusetts, I engaged in participant observation and semi-structured interviews to understand the library as both a physical environment as well as a social sphere. I present the library as a portal of serendipity, representing the ways that libraries serve as a necessary and unique third space through providing opportunities to bring together people of multiple ages and multiple needs and create joyful encounters and experiences without any expectations in return. I frame my argument through using an anthropological lens of space and through positioning the library in the current historical moment.
dc.description.sponsorshipHaverford College. Department of Anthropology
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10066/50176
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rights.accessTri-College users only
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
dc.subject.lcshLibraries and children
dc.subject.lcshLibraries and community
dc.subject.lcshParents
dc.subject.lcshEthnology
dc.titleThe Portal of Serendipity: Public Libraries, Children's Rooms, and the Importance of Public Space to Caregiver
dc.typeThesis
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