Ipswich Children’s Library: Dr Laurel Johnson on the impact of Australia’s first dedicated public children’s facility

A leading social planner says the Ipswich Children’s Library, built as part of the council’s new $125 million council admin building, should be an example of how to breathe new life into struggling city centres.

The Ipswich Children's Library opened in June as part of the council’s CBD redevelopment.

The first public dedicated children’s library in Australia is breathing new life into Ipswich’s struggling CBD and providing a vital platform for the city’s growing young population.

It is a model which should be copied by other councils, according to social planner and Griffith University senior lecturer Dr Laurel Johnson.

The Ipswich Children’s Library opened in June on the ground floor of the new $125 million council administration building, just a short walk across the civic plaza from the $17 million Ipswich Central Library which was finished six months prior.

The kid’s library is one of two libraries to open in the $250 million Nicholas Street Precinct redevelopment.

It forms part of the council’s $250 redevelopment of the CBD, which is taking shape with retail, food and drink outlets to soon open their doors.

Both libraries in the Nicholas Street Precinct were designed by global architecture firm Buchan.

Buchan is the lead architect for the council’s overhaul of the heart of the city with firm principal Todd Crighton, who was born and raised in Ipswich, highlighting the need to reconnect the city with the Bremer River.

The purpose-built kid’s library is designed for children under 12 with more than 35,000 books, magazines, DVDs and digital resources to check out, with hands-on tech and augmented reality facilities also on offer.

Dr Johnson said she hoped more councils looked at Ipswich as an example of how to revitalise their own CBDs.

“The family-centred design anchors Ipswich’s moral, economic and social recovery and revives community and investor interest in the once shamed city,” she said.

The Ipswich Children's Library is on the ground floor of the new $125 million council administration building.

Ipswich is the fastest-growing city in Queensland with its population expected to more than double to 558,000 by 2041.

Its median age of 32 is below the state and national average, with the strongest growth over the next 20 years set for the 10-14 (166 per cent) and 15-19 (156 per cent) age brackets.

The Australian Early Development Census (2018) found up to 21 per cent of Ipswich children, compared to 15 per cent of Australian children, were either developmentally vulnerable or developmentally at risk for language and cognitive skills development.

“Unfortunately, the (census) highlights continuing childhood development vulnerability for Ipswich’s youngest residents,” Dr Johnson said.

“Introducing children to learning in an engaging and city-centric place shows them that learning is important, and that they matter as residents of the city.

“Investment in the children’s library has many benefits.

“It brings young, vibrant energy and families to a once failed city centre, it signals the important place of early childhood education in the city’s future and it rebuilds trust in council.

“Here we have a juxtaposition of moral bankruptcy of the former city leadership and the innocence of children as key to the Ipswich’s recovery.

“This kind of child-centred design and family-centred placemaking will resonate with other fledgling second-tier cities.”

Kids can access more than 35,000 items from books to magazines and digital resources.

Ipswich Mayor Teresa Harding said more than 50,000 people have visited the children’s library so far.

“That’s an average of 3,800 people per week,” she said.

“We have signed up 1,600 new library members and made more than 46,000 loans. It’s so exciting to consider the positive impact this is having on Ipswich’s youngest residents.

“This is not like the libraries of yesteryear, the focus is very much on interactivity and engaging our young people as they learn, explore and play.

“The children’s library was purposely placed in the centre of the CBD to help activate the space and to house this new facility somewhere central and accessible for our tens of thousands of members.

“It sets Ipswich’s youth of today up with the curiosity and literacy skills that will hold them in good stead as they progress through school and into the workforce.”

Buchan Head of Interiors Valerie Mack explained why a separate space where kids are king was important.

Children are able to feed the resident Plesiosaurs through a pneumatic pipe and watch the ‘food’ zip around the pipes.

Books are sorted into kid-friendly categories and feature pictorial cues to help them find something to suit their interests.

A large, sculptural ‘tree of knowledge’ provides an escape for young people to rest and read in its hollow.

“Being stand-alone to the main public library makes the children’s library a destination in itself,” she said.

“Every aspect of the design has been created exclusively for young people, right down to shelving and furniture heights, interactive activities, hidey holes and reading nooks.

“Unlike the children’s section in most other main libraries, this is a space where everything is for the kids.

“They haven’t been made to fit around everything else.”

Read more stories by Lachlan McIvor here.

Originally published as Ipswich Children’s Library: Dr Laurel Johnson on the impact of Australia’s first dedicated public children’s facility