The Youth and Parenting Department of the Mattituck-Laurel Library serves children from birth through 6th grade, parents, caregivers, and professionals working with children. Our goal is to provide quality services and programs in an effort to meet the informational, academic, and recreational needs of our young patrons, tweens, teens and families.
We have many resources available to patrons of the library. Including books, CDs, Video games, DVDs, and audio books for children. We also have a large parenting collection which contains nonfiction book and fiction on an array of topics as well as picture books to help parents explore sensitive issues with their child. There is a dedicated space for the toddlers as well as the tweens located within the department. A separate area across from the information desk is the Teen Lounge.
There is a smart table, 6 ipads, 5 dedicated laptops to use for Minecraft and 3 Chrome Books for general internet use. We have a calculator for homework use and a charging cable that fits most phones for emergency charging.
Yes, you can sign your out-of-district child up for our Programs. Programs are available first to Mattituck and Laurel Residents. Your child will be placed on the waiting list and if there is space available, you will receive a call that they may then join the program. However out of district patrons may not join our summer reading clubs.
A Family Place Library is a center for early childhood information, parent education, emergent literacy, socialization, and family support. Expanding the traditional role of children's services, the Family Place builds on the knowledge that good health, early learning, parent involvement and supportive communities play a critical role of children's growth and development. Family Place Library Staff, trained in developmentally appropriate and family support practice, leverage the resources of the library to effectively serve young children and families.
Key Features of A Family Place Library Include:
The Parent/Child Workshop is the core program at each Family Place Library. This four-week series brings together toddlers and their parents in an informal, interactive setting with professionals from local agencies such as child care centers, hospitals, speech, clinics, universities, public schools and health departments. It emphasizes and supports the role of parents as first teachers, facilitates early intervention and literacy through modeling and referral to information and community resources.
Only children may use the laptops or parents with a child present. You need not be a Mattituck-Laurel Library patron to use a laptop.
Laptops may only be used for an hour and a half and then we will ask that you return it. All laptops must be returned 15 minutes before closing and can not be borrowed during that time.
When using the laptops we ask that you remain in the Tween area. As always we ask no food or drink in the Tween room.
The library has several Minecraft accounts preloaded on our laptops for in-library use. The library also has a server for a safe online minecraft experience for both in-library use and for play at home. More information on this topic is located HERE.