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A revitalization project is transforming the library at Roosevelt Elementary in Redwood City into a reading wonderland inside and out.
The library’s interior recently underwent a makeover featuring vibrant animal murals and more than $20,000 worth of donated new books. Outside, the façade has turned into a lush jungle, while the paved area leading to the building will feature a garden through which a river flows.
“It’s making a library that’s just very fun and welcoming,” school librarian Peyton Carpenter said. “It’s getting the kids excited about checking out their books and looking for books about things that they love. It’s really important right now to make the library a space that kids can be excited to be in and learn from.”
The Roosevelt library already offers a picturesque spot with a koi pond just outside that also has turtles – all set atop a slight incline on campus.
But in late April, the nonprofit Access Books Bay Area showed up at the library with about 60 volunteers to paint whimsical murals inside depicting a giraffe, a dragon and other creatures and organize a collection of more than 1,200 donated books.
The effort, lasting about two weeks, came out of a refurbishing grant from Access Books, which provides new books and enhanced library space to public schools in underserved communities. The organization has partnered with Roosevelt in the past.
“One of the most special parts of this project was the strong collaboration with Roosevelt’s library staff and administration,” said Amanda Collins, Access Books’ executive director and founder. “Library tech Peyton Carpenter played a particularly meaningful role by designing the murals herself. The artwork reflected both the interests of the students and the existing décor of the library, which made the finished space feel especially personal to the school community.”
Collins noted that her organization gives schools a “custom-tailored collection” of books – not just mere random material.
“One of our core values is that diversity and representation matter,” she said. “When students see themselves, their families, their languages and their experiences reflected in the books on their library shelves alongside the experiences of people different from them, they are more likely to feel that reading and the library itself are for them.”
Roosevelt needed and got additional Spanish-language chapter books, for instance. “That’s something that I was really going for,” Carpenter said. Access Books also filled in gaps “in our nonfiction section that were kind of bare as far as new technology, medicine, some animals and just history in general.”
Transitional kindergartner Olivia Contreras enjoys the library’s new look. “I like the butterflies and the dragon,” she said. “I like all the books.”
Roosevelt’s is the third Redwood City School District library refreshed by Access Books in the past two years, according to RCSD. In addition, Access Books has donated more than 85,000 books to the district since 2016.
The work on the outside of the Roosevelt library was expected to be completed by the start of the new school year.
The mural on the façade is a project by Girl Scouts members – primarily from Roosevelt, Principal Tina Mercer said. Students are helping with the painting alongside San Francisco-based artist Claudio Talavera-Ballón, who is commissioned to complete the artwork on the exterior wall and pavement.
Funding for this part of the library revitalization is covered by an anonymous donation of about $25,000 to the Roosevelt Parent Teacher Association, Mercer said. Surrounding fencing will also be redone.
“We’re creating this gorgeous visual entrance,” Mercer said. It will serve as an outdoor learning area but also “a wonderful space just for children to come and relax a little bit.”
