The tiny but mighty Maze Branch Library, 845 Gunderson Ave. in Oak Park, is taking a new approach to programming this spring with the recent addition of a sensory garden, and the little library’s new utilization of outdoor space promises a more inclusionary, not to mention beautiful, way of connecting with the community.
Children’s Librarian Shelley Harris was inspired last year by a trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden, where she was impressed by the interactive garden. She and her colleague, Jenny Jackson, had been long been fans of integrating the natural world into the library’s programming.Â
“We had been doing a lot of nature programming, because we feel like it’s an important part of STEM that’s often overlooked,” said Harris, referring to science, technology, engineering and math focused learning skills.
After witnessing the interactive garden at the Chicago Botanic Garden, she and Jackson asked if they could use the courtyard area at the Maze Branch to build a similar experience.Â
The garden officially opened in September — Harris says she was too excited about it to wait until it was actually planting season — but this spring it is finally getting into full swing with regular events each month.
A new concrete sidewalk was poured to make the courtyard accessible to visitors in wheelchairs. Harris says every child in the community needed to be able to enjoy the garden and, to that end, she considered accessibility from many different aspects.
Appropriately for a librarian, Harris notes that much of her love of nature comes from her childhood love of reading. She loved the role the outdoors played in L.M. Montgomery’s “Anne of Green Gables” series, but as a child, her own allergies kept her from experiencing the outdoors on a deep level. Â
“I like to make that point with caregivers and children who visit our garden,” Harris said. “You don’t need skills to participate, and if you’re allergic to certain parts of the garden, we have gloves and tools with bigger grips so everyone can engage at their own level.”
Harris, who has a background in speech pathology, also has a brother who is non-verbal. He uses the Proloquo2Go app, a symbol-supported app designed to promote the growth of communication and language skills.Â
It was important to Harris that non-verbal children feel at home in the new sensory garden, so she included a sign using Prologuo2Go symbols.Â
“We want to support and make sure that every child feels successful here, so we put up a yard sign with core words,” Harris said.
When it came time to actually choose plants for the garden, Harris turned to staff member Linda Miller.Â
“She is a great gardener and has been a very important part of this,” Harris said.
Miller took care to choose plants that would not only flourish in a small plot facing a busy street but that would also engage visitors on many different levels.Â
 “We want everything growing to engage all of the senses,” Harris said. “For example, kale tastes good but also changes color from green to purple. Dragon’s Breath has a suede-like feel. Linda brought in all of these colors and scents and textures.”
While sight and touch are important, Harris was careful to consider sound as well. “We have two wind chimes for sound,” she said. “I chose sounds that were not high-pitched, which can be challenging for those with auditory challenges. Instead, we chose deep, low, melodic tones.”
When children visit the garden for story time, Harris is intentional with the choice of books. This season, she is reading “Errol’s Garden.”
“It’s about kids dreaming and planning their garden and sharing it with the wider community,” Harris said. “We try to read the same story every time we come together to garden for continuity.”
The garden is also benefitting from wide community participation. Harris says that a special education class from Oak Park and River Forest High School helped with the planting. Two students built a fairy garden behind one of the benches, which Harris calls “a little bit of paradise,” and another high school class added kindness rocks to the space.Â
Harris enjoys seeing return visitors to the garden.Â
“One of our children who helped with the planting often walks by on his way to his favorite bakery,” Harris said. “He likes to stop and see the garden. With the benches and the shade, a lot of people stop by and sit for a while.”
On April 22, the garden officially opened for the season with the planting of two new raised beds, which Harris notes are sized so that visitors using wheelchairs can reach the boxes and touch and tend the plants.
Information about scheduled programming is available on the calendar page of the Oak Park Public Library website (www.oppl.org,) and Harris says that over the summer, new programming such as yoga and meditation will also take place in the space.Â
She also stresses that the garden is open for drop-ins and for regular library programming.Â
“There’s just something really wonderful about all the collaborative places that we can take this space,” Harris said.
