New Haven Free Public Library Wins National Award
New space offers tech tools for 21st century learning.
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The Tinkerlab at the New Haven Free Public Libray's Ives Squared. Photo by Judy Sirota Rosenthal |
New space offers tech tools for 21st century learning
The New Haven Free Public Library received the 2019 National Medal for Museum and Library Service, the nation's highest honor for libraries and museums, awarded to just 10 institutions in the country.
The recognition comes after a multi-year effort by the library to engage the community in a process of transforming its space and programs for the 21st century. The effort produced Ives Squared, a new space with computer-aided modeling tools and a "Tinkerlab" (pictured). Consultants are also available to anyone with an idea for starting a business, leading a civic project or an invention.
"People come in here with ideas they have had for a long time." says Ives Squared manager Gina Bingham. "We help get them to the next level."
Ives Squared grew out of a multi-year effort, starting with a 2014 strategic plan funded in part by The Foundation, and culminating in the community-centric 2018 Strategic Framework, "Growing Together. One City. One Future.".
