Hope Marie Cook directs a curriculum materials center for pre-service teachers within ECSU's Smith Library. Her passion for education and learning led her to seize an opportunity to create a special library for young library users. Her dynamic example demonstrates how one person can inspire others and create a unique setting where children can experience a library for the first time.

On a tour of the newly created Child and Family Development Resource Center (CFDRC) on the ECSU campus, Hope discovered a room where she thought a lending library might be established for children and their families, and gained support for her vision from the Smith Library director and others. Her proposal included utilization of the library's circulation system and catalog to provide service at this new remote library site. As a result of her efforts, Ella's Library Nook was established in the CFDRC on July 13, 2006.

Ella's Library Nook is an irresistible library stocked with new materials, including book bags on wheels, board books, Spanish language books, and puppets conveniently located where families come for childcare. Families enrolled in CFDRC live in neighborhoods near campus, and Spanish is spoken by over 21% of residents over five years of age. The poverty rate is 15.9%, double the average rate in Connecticut. The birth of Ella's Library Nook is natural and timely, considering the importance of early literacy and the goals of No Child Left Behind. Its mission is to assist this community by providing children with library materials, thereby strengthening their educational futures.

Hope's commitment to connecting people with learning and library resources is reflected in the details of her innovative project. She purchased a furry elephant book bag and applied multi-colored felt dots all over it. Now, "Ella the Elephant" is the library's mascot. CFDRC preschool lessons focus on families, and Ella reinforces this theme because elephant families are nurtured by female elephants. The multi-color dots show that it is okay to be different.

CFDRC children and their parents have access to Ella's Library Nook during regular hours and can borrow new books, puppets and book bags on wheels. This increases the likelihood of books being in the home to help jumpstart literacy, and it also strengthens familial relationships and stimulates the parents' active role in educating their children.

Each child receives a colorful laminated library card when his/her parent signs up to use the library. Hope created the card's design, as well as bookmarks and posters advertising Ella's Library Nook. She also collaborated with staff and organized a fun orientation session, introducing children to Ella's Library Nook and informing them of basic rules for handling library books.

The notion of a children's lending library in a child care facility on a university campus may shake up someone's concept of a library; however, Ella's Library Nook is successful and having a profound impact on young children and their families.

Elise C. Browne, library technician, Smith Library, ECSU