>> Kim Grossett: Hi,
I'm Kim Grossett,
and I'm a 2022 Junior Fellow
at the Library of Congress
in the Informal Learning Office,
which houses the Young
Readers Center and Program Lab
in the Jefferson Building.
I'm a former high
school English teacher,
and a current graduate student
at the Catholic University
of America in Washington DC,
where I'm pursuing a
master's degree in Library
and Information Science.
Currently, the ILO team is busy
developing plans for a new space
in the southwest corridor
of the Jefferson Building
that will open to the public
in the next few years.
The focus of the activities
in this space will be
introducing young visitors
to using the Library
of Congress collections
for their own creative
purposes and research
in four designated
zones, and a box bar
that will invite visitors
to follow in the footsteps
of researchers to
explore a question.
There will be a text zone with
books, magazines, newspapers,
and other printed items
from the collections.
There is also a film zone that
will feature videos and movies.
In the sound zone, young
visitors may listen to music
and other audio recordings
that are part
of the library's collections.
In the image zone,
prints, photographs, maps,
and other types of images will
be available for exploration.
Young visitors may explore these
collections as an introduction
to participating in an activity
where they will work with items
in a discovery box at the
box bar to solve a puzzle
or answer a research question
about a topic of their choice.
Ultimately, young
researchers may contribute
to a community wall where they
can share what they've learned
with other visitors.
This summer, I'm focusing
on the images zone,
where I will research the vast
collections of photographs
and images to include
in this area.
I'm working on a prototype
for the images zone to test
with young visitors
in the library's current Young
Readers Center and Program Lab.
I'm also writing a blog
post about Route 66
and summer vacation road
trips to be submitted
to the Informal Learning
Center's blog for families,
Minerva's Kaleidoscope.
This blog is an invaluable
resource for families
with young children that
is loaded with information
about many topics of interest to
young students that help enrich
and extend their
K-12 curriculum.
I learned so much about
the Library of Congress
and the vast collections
during my participation
in the Junior Fellows Program.
What I've learned from this
experience will enhance my
contributions as an
educator and a librarian.
I'm so grateful for the
opportunity to participate
in the program, and I can't wait
to share what I've
learned with my students.
Thank you for your interest
in the Informal Learning
Office Project.