Simple Positive Play at the Library

In this consideration of play in the public library sphere, Ilardi (founder, Simple Positive Play) interweaves her story of forming a nonprofit with reflections on child development and design thinking research. Ilardi recounts her own background as a public youth librarian that led to her creating the nonprofit Simple Positive Play in the St. Louis, MO, area. She maps research on youth development (think Piaget, Dewey, and even Mr. Rogers), youth librarian history, participatory design, ALSC core competencies, and other scholarly frameworks onto the narrative of starting a new business. The earnest and wholesome tone conveys the writer’s personality. Readers can easily imagine these principles in action at a storytime, gaming club, or teen advisory group. Slim and storytelling-rich, this once insider, now outsider perspective gives youth librarians a theoretical and practical grounding in a fail-fast, open-minded methodology for working with youth and families in public libraries.