The Noyes Library for Young Children is the oldest library building in the DC area, predating the Library of Congress’ Jefferson building by a few years. It is also one of about eight libraries in the United States that are dedicated exclusively to serving our youngest customers and their families.
The Noyes Library opened in 1893 and was a purpose-built library for the town of Kensington. The library operated on a subscription basis until it become part of Montgomery County Public Libraries in 1951. In the late 1960s the Noyes building was closed due to the collection being merged with other branches in the area. But in 1972 the Noyes Library reopened with a special mission, to be a library that focused solely on children. And that is how the Noyes Library for Young Children came to be.
From your first step into Noyes’ storybook-charming building you will realize how special this one room library is. Small and cozy Noyes welcomes all families to read and play together and is always filled with the noise of families enjoying the library. Noyes’ collection serves children from birth to age 8 and has a variety of programs every day for children and their families. There is also a special collection at Noyes to help families and early childcare educators gain more knowledge in how encourage early literacy skills in their daily lives.
The Jan Jablonski Collection. Noyes is also home to The Jan Jablonski Early Literacy Training Center. The Center’s mission is to create, model, and export best-practice early literacy training for librarians and library science students, early childhood educators, daycare providers and, of course, parents, as they are their child’s first educators. At Noyes you will find the Jan Jablonski collection, an ever-growing set of resources on early literacy available to all customers with library cards. In this collection you can find resources on storytimes, family games, the importance of play, a variety of curricula, STEM activities and more early literacy resources. This collection is available for all customers to check out, and if you can’t make it to Noyes, you can always put a hold on any book in this collection and have it sent to your closest library branch.
Make More Noyes. The Noyes renovation is a major capital project that will transform our historic one-room library into three accessible floors to create an inclusive experience for all children and families. The increase in space also creates a dedicated programing space for the library to use for events for families and the early literacy educator community. Noyes is scheduled to close in 2024 for renovation. For more information on renovation plans please visit the Noyes Library for Young Children web page or the Division of Building Design and Construction’s Noyes Library for Young Children Rehabilitation and Renovation web page.