Imagine This

It’s 10 o’clock on a Friday morning, and a large group of excited fourth graders arrives at ImaginOn in Charlotte, NC. Let free, they whiz past the information desk, and veer left, following the natural flow of this remarkable new building. One group heads for the children’s room, while another races deeper into the undulating structure, with its sloping roofs, slanted walls, and curving interior ramp, until they reach the Story Lab. Soon “ImaginOn: The Joe and Joan Martin Center” is buzzing with kids, tripping over each other to get a seat at one of the colorful computer stations or pulling armfuls of books off shelves.

Are we in a library, a museum, a theater? The kids are too engaged in playing, learning, and, yes, imagining, to care.

ImaginOn, it turns out, is a joint venture of the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) and the Children’s Theatre of Charlotte. And the Story Lab is very much its soul. Kids are no doubt drawn to its huge Story Jar (meant to represent the millions of stories in the world) and the old records, umbrellas, and shoes dangling from a Calderesque mobile hanging above.

“When we began to discuss collaboration back in 1997, we discovered that we were both in the business of storytelling,” says Bruce LaRowe, executive director of the Children’s Theatre. Thus ImaginOn’s mission: to “bring stories to life through extraordinary experiences that challenge, inspire, and excite young minds.”

The Story Lab group quickly settles into individual workstations (called Tale Spinners) or the podlike arrangements of computers (called Team Machines) scattered throughout the room. But these aren’t the dreary computers you’d find in any old library. They’re fanciful and magical, purple and yellow, with spiraling turrets and pipes that lead to unknown places.

The students are busy at work, using software that guides them through the story-writing process, challenging them to expand their imaginations. When they’re done, they can “add” their stories to the Story Jar or, if they have a library card, they can revise them later at home or school.

The group of kids on the Team Machine is working with software that helps them create a theatrical scene. As they invent the story line, design the set, and fashion the costumes, they yell unself-consciously back and forth. Collaboration is clearly a noisy process.

Occupying a city block in “Uptown Charlotte”—the growing cultural hub of the city—this freestanding, 102,000-square-foot, two-month-old building is radical for a number of reasons. For one thing, when library and theater leaders agreed to create a joint-use facility, instead of just building a structure that would house both institutions side by side, they took a far riskier step—creating a daringly original space with its own identity and, eventually, its own life.

They also decided that ImaginOn shouldn’t just provide services or performances, but should be a destination, someplace kids and families would come to just spend time. This is no easy task, and ImaginOn created a Visitor Experience Team, made up of library and theater folks, to make sure that happens.

Between the children’s room and the Story Lab, a ramp curves upward toward the upper level. “It’s like a magic carpet, meant to transport you through the building, while knitting together all the different functions,” explains Lois Kilkka, PLCMC’s library services manager.

The first stop is Tech Central, an installation of 40 computers for tweens. Staffed by a five-member technology education team, Tech Central provides software for learning and recreation, as well as Internet access for those with parental permission. What’s unique about Tech Central is its educational mission—the staff isn’t there simply to monitor kids, but to teach them. An adjacent computer classroom with 15 workstations provides an opportunity for children and teens to learn not just library research and database searching, “but a whole variety of tools, from PowerPoint to Dreamweaver,” says Matt Roach, the library’s information specialist for technology education.

Opportunities for hands-on learning are an essential part of ImaginOn’s design. There are four other classrooms—to be used for rehearsals or workshops with budding playwrights, as well as a dance studio and another for art classes. An artist-in-residence would fit perfectly into ImaginOn’s vision.

The ramp finally ends at the Teen Loft, a nearly 4,000-square-foot space with its own distinct look and feel. Oversized booths provide space for teens to work together—or just hang out and talk. Huge easy chairs beg for readers to curl up in them. A media area, all metal and glass, feels more like an upscale coffee bar.

The Teen Loft is managed by Michelle Gorman, formerly the Wired for Youth Librarian at the Austin (TX) Public Library. Gorman’s goal? “To be the best teen library in the country, and a place where teens never know what’s going to happen next.” Thanks to Gorman, ImaginOn is well on its way to achieving that distinction. At a recent party to launch Teen Read Week, the Teen Loft took over the entire building, placing a DJ at the top of the ramp and attracting more than 600 teens—just weeks after the building’s October opening.

Studio-I, adjacent to the Loft, is one of ImaginOn’s most ambitious and coolest innovations. Using blue screen technology, this 1,225-square-foot studio lets teens produce live-action and animated videos, using the latest techniques, such as stop-motion, clay, and 2D animation. Studio-I also includes three workstations, and with the help of the ed-tech team, fledgling video artists can learn how to shoot, edit, and mix sound. While Studio-I complements ImaginOn’s storytelling mission, it’s radical for a library to embrace creation—as opposed to collection—in a medium that isn’t text. Studio-I finally gives teens, huge consumers of video content, an opportunity to create and express through video.

On a Friday after school, two high school girls are working on a story using stop-animation, while other teens wander through the space in various stages of wonderment.

“I had no idea this was here,” one boy exclaims, echoing what must be the reaction of thousands of kids when they first visit ImaginOn. That reaction, of course, is exactly what librarians long to hear. As Gorman likes to say, “traditional libraries reach traditional users. Nontraditional libraries reach everybody.” In that case, ImaginOn had better start building another floor.