What a gorgeous little man you have Peldon!
He does look a little lonely at that table by himself though. Like Katherine and Caitlin, it seems to me that the library in this case was simply offering a space rather than a program as such. I wonder if they had other times when they were busier and had scheduled time and activity better. They don’t seem to have put in much effort and I was surprised they didn’t approach you or offer any assistance or direction during a 2 hour visit – that’s a long time! As Hugh Rundle says “It’s not enough anymore for information to be organised – it needs to be made available in new and meaningful ways. It needs to be communicated …” and I think in your case there wasn’t much being communicated or made available at all. Still, kids are resilient and hopefully some drawing time was fun for your son.
I gues this is where we, as student librarians, can really learn something about designing programs that engage people and provide value, not just providing a space. I’ve struggled a little with creating an engaging program – being a teacher hasn’t been my forte in the past. However your experience has shown me how important it is to put in the time and effort to plan, design and implement a program that would excite, engage and interest library patrons. There’s so much exciting stuff out there! Especially for kids. It’s a shame your library couldn’t have done more.