Imagine a lush park, teaching garden and greenhouse, kitchen classroom, performing arts theater, computer lab and public library—all free and in one state-of-the-art location.

Imagine.

This month, the Central Arkansas Library System turns that fantastic vision into a reality for Little Rock residents.

If the Children’s Library and Learning Center sounds like fiction, that’s because it is the first of its kind. The new library’s manager, Sarah McClure, says that although planners visited numerous sites across the country for ideas and inspiration, they never encountered another library or learning center that combined a traditional children’s library with a kitchen, garden and theater space.

“I think you could say that what we’re trying to do and what we’re hoping to do is inspire kids first with our space, programs and learning opportunities,” says McClure, who managed Dee Brown Library for eight years. “Then we hope they’re inspired to learn more about us, discover that we’re a library, and that we have resources and computers. We’re trying to be a space where they can come and learn and experience and play.”

The Building

Driving along Interstate 630, you’ve seen the modern, glass-fronted structure perched among the trees. In the library’s beginning stages, about 100 kids as young as 11 years old helped conceptualize their dream library. The visionaries gave a strict directive—build us a tree house.

Visitors enter from the parking lot on the building’s second floor. The cavernous room will house the book, DVD and CD collections, as well as window-front reading areas that overlook a pond, trees and thriving wildlife: “With all of the glass and windows and bright openness, this is sort of like a tree house. You almost feel like you’re floating,” McClure says. “The colors and furniture are meant to be creative and inspire people—a welcoming space that hopefully says we’re here for children and families.”

Don Ernst, the head of the Children’s Library Initiative, took his young consultants seriously, and many of the children’s original ideas made the final cut—the tree house atmosphere, as well as a performing arts component and food-related programs.

The Programs

Though the library has several multi-purpose rooms for typical programming like crafts and story times, the features that will set it apart for most families are the cooking workshops, greenhouse talks, hands-on gardens and theater programs.

A stadium theater stretches from the ground floor up to the main floor, and will provide space for adult lectures, movie nights and possibly traveling shows. But most importantly, children will have the opportunity to take acting classes, perform, design and build sets, write scripts and more. “Acting is so open—it is communication, drama, costumes. There are so many layers to it,” McClure says of their plans, which were not finalized as of press time.

Outside, an environmental educator will teach children about urban farming and the growing cycle throughout the seasons. Youngsters will help to grow a variety of produce in raised planters on the small plot. Next to the teaching garden is a fully-equipped greenhouse that will provide even more growing opportunities (“We’ll have anything you can imagine. I could grow a lemon tree!” McClure exclaims.)

All of the homegrown goodies will then be used in the teaching kitchen and culinary programming. “Kids can literally take a seed, grow it, pull it, bring it inside, be shown and taught how to make healthy food choices in the kitchen, and then eat it,” McClure says.

The Eco-Initiatives

Even the park-like setting that surrounds the building will be used as a teaching tool. The landscaping mimics the flora and fauna of Arkansas—from the South Central Plains to the Ozark Highlands—and is just one example of the library’s focus on eco-education and earth-friendly practices.

The builders are hoping for a silver certification from LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for their efforts to construct a green building. Many of the landscaping features are purposeful design, including a watershed in the “Mississippi Alluvial Plains” that catches water runoff from the interstate. A rain garden near the parking lot is imbedded with plants that help absorb car, gas and tire pollutants from the water before it flows into the city’s water supply and eventually returns to the Arkansas River.

The Community

Located at 4800 West 10th Street, just across the interstate from War Memorial Park and the Little Rock Zoo, McClure says the library’s placement is strategic and important for numerous reasons.

“There’s hope that this library will help turn this area into a park-like area,” McClure says. “Eventually we hope there will be bike and walking paths on Jonesboro Street to connect us to the zoo and create more of a park setting in a full, broad sense.”

Plus, she explains, “it’s very intentional that we are on this side of Interstate 630, an area that truly needs our services. We’re here for the whole community, but we strategically placed ourselves here to try to provide services for people who are traditionally underserved. We’re here to help and enrich.”

Visit CALS.org or the Children's Library and Learning Center's Facebook page for up-to-date information and program schedules.