While academic libraries were originally designed to serve "traditional" university students, we know that demographics are changing. In the past decade, the student demographic has been trending towards “non-traditional” students who may have a full-time job, be married, and have children. The term student-parents refers to both graduate and undergraduate students who happen to also be parents. If this sounds like you, you're in the right place! We know that being a student-parent comes with it's own unique challenges and this Spring 2023 semester, we are piloting a grant funded initiative to provide services just for you.
Student parents can often feel unwelcome in academic libraries as there are not usually many ways to entertain children and because the library stereotype of a silent/quiet space can often discourage parents with playful children from visiting. These students often feel intimidated bringing potentially lively children to a space where they fear inconveniencing others, which in turn hurts their ability to utilize some library services and spaces. While this demographic faces many challenges on their journey to academic success, access to the library and research resources should not be one of them. UNT Libraries welcomes student parents and their children.
We know that entertaining kids while on campus can be a struggle. To help with this we are offering a variety of Kids Activity Kits available for checkout at the Library Services Desk on the first floor of Willis Library. Different kits will be available to suit different age ranges and interests. Each kit has it's own theme and contains at least one book along with age appropriate toys, activities, or games.
See a listing of our current kits and their contents here.
While our main location, Willis Library, does have some traditional library quiet space, many of our spaces are designed for active group study which would be a great place to study when you need to bring kids along.
Click here to see at breakdown of our spaces and their noise levels.
Need a child-friendly library space to ask questions, get research assistance, or just study? Attend our Family Study Hours throughout the semester. Each event has coloring pages you can keep and Kids Activity Kits available for checkout with a UNT ID card.
Need help? Then use the library's Ask Us service. Get help from real people face-to-face, by phone, or by email.
