Desk for working parents at a Virginia library goes viral
“Raising children is so hard in America. There’s no universal child care or health care. To see something that actually makes life easier for parents of babies, people are like, ‘Oh, it’s amazing!’” — Ali Faruk, Richmond, Va., resident
RICHMOND, Va. — When Richmonder Ali Faruk snapped a picture of a desk for working parents at Henrico’s Fairfield Area Library and posted it to Twitter, he didn’t think much of it.
“A new public library in my area has these work stations for caregivers with babies!” he tweeted. “Maybe these are common in other places but (I’ve) never seen anything like this before.”
The unique-looking desk has a work station for the parent with a play area attached to it for toddlers or babies outfitted with a vinyl cushion and built-in play features like a mirror and holes for playing peek-a-boo.
“I thought, ‘Wow, that is really amazing for working parents who can now keep an eye on their kids,’” Faruk said.
A working dad himself, he had taken his children, ages 5 and 7, to the Fairfield library as a way to spend time on a cold and blustery Saturday. When he saw a few likes on his tweet a few minutes later, he thought, “Well, that’s nice.”
An hour later, he saw 1,000 likes. Then 8,000 likes. Then 15,000 likes. As of this writing, the tweet has gathered over 240,000 likes and the desk has been covered in Newsweek and The Independent in the U.K. as life-changing item for working parents and caregivers.
The computer work-andplay stations at Fairfield Area Library debuted in 2019 when the brand new $29 million library opened to the public at 1401 N. Laburnum Ave. in Henrico.
There are four parentchild carrels joined together in a cluster on the second floor of the library in the children’s area. The desks were designed by the Henrico County Public Library and Quinn Evans, an architecture firm with a location based in Richmond, which designed the library. The idea for the parent-child carrels arose during the planning phase for the new 44,800-square-foot library building.
“Our library director Barbara Weedman had seen this issue throughout her career: caregivers of small children struggling to use a library computer. She’d see a mom balancing a young one on her knee while trying to fill out of a job application or send emails, and there is just no good way to do it,” said Patty Conway, a spokesperson for the library.
Shannon Wray, a Richmond-based designer at Quinn Evans, worked with Weedman to create a custom solution.
“She said, ‘You know, if you could solve this problem, I think everyone across the country would want one of these,’” Wray said. The designer reached out to Michigan-based TMC Furniture, which stands for The Makers Creative, to create the custom computer work-and-play stations.
Made of maple veneer plywood and colored dyes, the carrels feature a mural on the outside, built-in boards for tiny hands in the play area and an attached desk with a computer station for the working parent or caregiver.
“They offer privacy, as well as an easy physical connection for the parent to attend to the child,” Wray said.
Faruk’s tweet quickly went viral, with people chiming in, saying that they wished they had a work-play station like this at home or in public spaces.
“This is a game-changer,” one person commented. “I worked in a busy metropolitan library & too often saw moms in very difficult circumstances try to manage their babies/toddlers while using the PACs to apply for jobs or housing. It was so difficult for them. What a great innovation. Well done!”
Another wrote, “I would have broken down in tears had they had these at my library as a new mom…it would have given me…precious time.”
Two years after their debut, the “revolutionary” desks are finally getting their due, partly in thanks to the pandemic.
“I think what’s making them resonate with so many people is that we’ve all had to work from home for the past two years during the pandemic,” Wray said. “So many of us have had to try and balance working from home with taking care of or educating our kids at the same time. I think that’s what made it so relatable to people right now.
“I heard so many people say, ‘Gosh, I wish I could have one of these for my house, it’s so hard to occupy my kids while trying to get work done,’” Wray added.
After its debut at the Fairfield library in 2019, TMC furniture launched the Fairfield Parent+Child Carrel, named after the Fairfield library, which retails for $3,451.
After the Fairfield library tweet took off, TMC has seen increased interest in the custom piece.
“It’s wonderful to see our ‘community solution for a very human need’ motto really taking off,” Evan Wood, operations manager for TMC, said via email. “Requests for information have gone up ten-fold, at least, with orders right behind it. Our website traffic has skyrocketed as well.”
Many other libraries have purchased the carrels including libraries in Illinois, Oklahoma, California, and even in British Columbia and Japan.
As for his innocuous tweet getting national and international attention, Faruk said, “At first I thought, ‘Oh that’s really cool that it’s getting attention.’ But now I think it’s kind of sad that people think this is revolutionary. This is something that everyone should have access to.”
Faruk is the policy director of Families Forward Virginia, a nonprofit that aims to prevent child abuse.
“Raising children is so hard in America. There’s no universal child care or health care. To see something that actually makes life easier for parents of babies, people are like, ‘Oh, it’s amazing!’” Faruk said.
“I really applaud Henrico County and the leadership for creating spaces that are accessible to families. I hope to see more of that everywhere,” he said.