EPL assists with David Robinson Reading Room

When Robert Taylor, president of 100 Black Sons, was looking to open a place for the community inside the Roosevelt Center, he knew what he wanted.

A place for education. A place for fun.  

Naturally, he looked at another place combining those missions – Elkhart Public Library. 

Built on legacy

The David Robinson Reading Room was born, Robert says, out of those ideas. And it’s named for the legendary Roosevelt gym teacher. 

It’s located inside the center at 215 E. Indiana Ave. 

“We created a smaller community center inside of Roosevelt,” Robert says. “Education is the key piece to what we want to have. How do we educate people if we don’t have a place?” 

He wants the space to be for the entire community, not just those living in the surrounding neighborhood. 

“We need people to understand, this is for anyone in the city,” Robert says. 

Partnership formed 

Robert reached out to Jill Martinson, Elkhart Public Library’s Audience Development Manager, to jump-start the reading room’s collection with around 500 books recently withdrawn from EPL’s circulating collection. 

“I was in the downtown library looking at all the books and thought, ‘how can we get kids back into studying,’” he says. “We just want to do some unique things.” 

EPL will visit with the Book Bus and host monthly programming, too. Plus, Robert is bringing his own ideas. 

“We want to create book clubs. We have invited all of the daycare centers. We’ll have local community members come to read to the kids during the summer,” says Robert.  

He says TVs and gaming systems will provide entertainment for the kids, too.

Working with EPL, Robert sees the reading room as an introduction to the library. A smaller space creates personal interactions and is less intimidating. 

“The partnership will be that we’ll introduce people to the library.  It will allow people to grow into the library,” Robert says. “The bigger picture will be to get them into the Elkhart Public Libraries all over the city.”