By KYLE ODEGARD
Gazette-Times reporter | Posted: Sunday, December 2, 2007 12:00 am
Dead week meant Oregon State University students studying at the Valley Library. Three-year-old Sahalie Wolff was learning there, too, playing a concentration game, picking up cards with colored bears face down.
"Does it match? What color is it?" asked Krystal Thompson, 21, an OSU education major.
"Brown and brown," Sahalie replied.
The game took place on the third floor, at Our Little Village-Library, which OSU believes is the first day care center in a university library anywhere in the United States.
The service is free for students and paid for by student fees.
"It's awesome. I get a lot of work done while she's in good care," said Sahalie's mother, 29-year-old Rosa Wolff, taking a break from typing a report in the library.
Rosa Wolff said she has a computer at home, but she isn't as productive there because her children and husband want to spend time with her.
Single mom Carrie Watters, 30, a psychology major, said her 5-year-old son often interrupted her to ask for something to eat or drink, or to play.
"I'd wait for him to go to bed, so then I'd be up until midnight trying to study," she said.
Wolff said she wished that Our Little Village-Library was open every day.
For now, the day care center's hours are from 2:30 to 11 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, noon to 10 p.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays. After this Wednesday, Our Little Village-Library will close for the holidays, but its hours will be the same during winter term.
Since its opening Nov. 6, the center has had about 60 visits from about 25 individual children.
"People are still hearing about us," said Kristi King, site coordinator. "Even though it's free, we kind of have to sell it to people."
Stephanie Duckett, who works as a university student parent advocate, said there are an estimated 1,800 student parents who go to OSU, based on housing and financial aid data.
"It's about a tenth of the population. A good chunk of them are single parents, so you can imagine the workload they have," she said.
Children aged 6 months to 10 years may be dropped off for two to three hours at Our Little Village-Library.
Student parents who use the service are given a pager so day care staff can contact them.
Our Little Village-Library is located in Room 3564 in the Valley Library, directly behind the university archives.