The GIANT Room

The Connecticut State Library, Division of Library Development has partnered with The GIANT Room to bring a new way of community engagement to Connecticut libraries. 

In 2023 DLD held a three-part professional development series for libraries with the GIANT Room.  As part of the series, one library was chosen to host a large family program for their community facilitated by the GIANT Room staff and five pilot libraries were chosen to work with the GIANT Room to learn how to facilitate their own programs using the GIANT Room methodology. These six libraries were the Ansonia Public Library, Bristol Public Library, Granby Public Library and Killingly Public Library from Connecticut, as well as the Tiverton Library and Warwick Public Library from our neighboring Rhode Island. These community programs were held in 2023 and 2024. 

In our program this past year in partnership with Ansonia Library, Granby Public Library, Gunn Memorial Library, Killingly Public Library, New Haven Free Public Library, Waterford Public Library, and Windsor Locks Public Library hundreds of families joined our live events and Remix Stations in libraries and published: 

• A deck of superhero trading cards with the Waterford Public Library 

• A graphic novel featuring comic strip stories with the Fair Haven Branch

• A game set of Would You Rather…? questions with the Killingly Public Library 

• A deck of engineered buildings and a dream city map with Gunn Memorial and Ives Branch Public Libraries

• And so many more!

Looking ahead, DLD plans to continue to work with the GIANT Room into 2026, offering more opportunities to libraries. Stay tuned!