Like most law libraries, Harris County Law Library is dedicated to bridging the justice gap and providing its patrons with access to the legal resources and materials they need to navigate the legal justice system. In a previous post, “How Children’s Books Promote Access to Justice,” we highlighted how the Law Library’s partnership with Harris County Public Library fostered access to justice by including children’s books in the Law Library’s collection. We were thrilled to learn that our friends at the Hamilton County Law Library in Cincinnati, Ohio, have followed our lead by partnering with the Public Library of Cincinnati to provide visitors with age-appropriate reading material, including children’s picture books as well as fiction and nonfiction offerings for adults.
Now, we’ve taken it one step further by adding board books to our collection. For those of you who may not know, board books are children’s books that are printed, not on regular paper, but on much thicker paperboard or cardboard. They are perfect for small children, typically for those up to age 3. They are designed to withstand the less than gentle touch and handling of toddlers. We have a large array of picture books for children between the ages of 4 and 8, but we were seeing more and more people coming to the library with toddlers. We knew we needed something more appropriate to keep these little ones busy while their moms, dads, or caregiver managed their legal business.