Picture of unique Fairfield Library workstation goes viral

A Twitter post showcasing a creative workstation at the Fairfield Area Library went viral recently, garnering more than 240,000 likes and nearly 27,000 retweets.

The Tweet from Ali Faruk, the policy director of Families Forward Virginia, showed a picture of one of the workstations, which includes a desk and computer adjacent to an enclosed play area for children.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Faruk wrote Jan. 22.

Neither had anyone else, apparently, because the message resonated quickly with parents all over the world.

https://twitter.com/FamiliesFwdVA/status/1484940785476935690?s=20

The unexpected acclaim for the library, which opened in October 2019, has been a rewarding surprising, according to Henrico Library Director Barbara Weedman.

“We were so pleased to be recognized in this way, it’s just really gratifying,” she told the Henrico Board of Supervisors Jan. 25.

The workstations – a group of four located near the children’s section on the library’s second floor – were conceptualized by library staffers as a way to meet the needs of the nearby community. Fairfield had seen the highest use of computers of any library in the county, and parents or grandparents often brought children with them.

Richmond architectural firm Quinn Evans worked with TMC Furniture, a Michigan company, to design and implement the stations.

“They have been very well received,” Weedman said. “This particular workstation, in the times that we are in, really resonated with people. People are juggling all sorts of demands – they’re working, they’re applying for jobs, they have kids, there’s child care, there’s so much going on. . . We’re just thrilled that it got this kind of attention.”

For the hundreds of thousands of people who’ve seen Faruk’s Tweet, and who have read about it on Newsweek's website or other sites, the workstations may have provided some inspiration. And don’t be surprised if similar workstations begin popping up in libraries throughout the country or even elsewhere in the world.

“We design our libraries very intentionally and thoughtfully to provide the best public service we can,” Weedman said, “and this was a need that we recognized and we were able to come up with really an innovative solution.”