So you want to take your tot to the library!  Yay!  Librarians love that.  I’m one of them, and I’m not lying when I say sometimes I wake up and think, ‘People are gonna to come to the library today! Yay!’  We librarians really love you.

But maybe you’re scared.  Maybe you’re worried that things will go badly.  After all, there are rules of conduct at the library that might be new for your little one.  If your kid’s vocal range is more Adele and less Enya, a trip to the stacks might be daunting.

Well, I am here to calm your fears and pat your hair and tell you a few things that will hopefully ease your anxiety about the whole thing.  Have a seat. There there.  It’s going to be fine.  More than fine, it’s going to be awesome.  As Arthur always says, having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card.

Behold!  These are the secret librarian tips to enjoying the library with your little ones (side-note: I don’t speak for all public libraries, but these are usually pretty widely applicable!):

• Don’t worry about re-shelving books! If you leave them on a table, we will put them back in order where they belong.
• Libraries aren’t always hallowed, silent places. A lot of children’s areas especially are places where you and your kids are encouraged to learn and play.  You can use regular talking voices!

• If your library has self-checkout machines, I’ll bet your kiddos would LOVE to help check out their very own books to themselves on it. They might not be able to check out at the grocery store, but here, it’s a very real possibility to do a Big Grownup Thing all by themselves.  Well mostly — they might still need a tiny bit of help 😉

• Ask your librarian what their favorite board books and picture books are. I’ll bet they have stellar recommendations.  We get paid to have favorite books and we love sharing!  Cannot emphasize this enough.  We looooooove it.  Look, I’m gonna share my favorites with you right now: Puppies by Laura Ellen Anderson; Everywhere Babies by Susan Meyers; Feeding the Sheep by Leda Schubert
• We very often have stickers to give out. Come for the books, stay for the stickers.

• More and more libraries are offering “sensory storytimes” for children on the autism spectrum. If you don’t see one offered by your library, ask them if they have plans to have them.  We want the library to be a place that works for everyone.

• Lots of libraries pay for you to have access to stuff from home too! Stuff like OverDrive for eBooks (including children’s eBooks!), TumbleBooks, Hoopla for music, Zinio for magazines, and research databases.  Every library is different, but check to see what you can access right from home with your library card.  You might be super surprised at what’s right at your fingertips.

• If there’s a book you’ve been wanting to read to your kids and you don’t see it on the shelves, lots of libraries have ways for you to make purchasing suggestions.

• I would never judge you for having fines or losing a book. It happens to the best of us — you should see my own paid-fines history!  It’s epic.  It’s the Epic of Gilgamesh of paid-library-fines lists.  Don’t feel bad.  We still want you to come through our doors!

That’s really the heart of it.  We want you to come to the library.  We want you to enjoy yourselves.  Your library is just that: your library.  Don’t ever let the fear of a not-quiet child or a messy child keep you away.  And here: have a sticker.