Reading in IKEA comfort

Molly Shore

The book of knowledge just got easier to read at Burbank High

School’s year-old library.

With $10,000 worth of furniture donated by IKEA of Burbank,

students now have comfortable areas in the library’s second-floor

loft and first floor lounges to study or curl up with a book.

At a Monday afternoon ribbon-cutting ceremony, the furniture was

unveiled to an appreciative audience of district administrators, city

officials, teachers and students.

“I think it’s great,” ninth-grader Chris Yu said. “It gives us a

place to work quietly.”

School board member Dave Kemp, a former Burbank High School

instructor, said the new library has come a long way from what the

school used to have.

“I spent a lot of time in that other library,” Kemp said. “This is

just a great facility.”

Yumiko Carr, IKEA’s director of public relations, said that when

district librarian Paula Paggi asked for a furniture donation in the

spring, IKEA was happy to oblige.

“We’re not in the practice of just cutting a check,” Carr said.

“They had a need we could provide.”

IKEA officials asked Paggi to make a list of what the library

needed. When Paggi only asked for furniture for the downstairs area,

the response was, “What about the rest?”

In addition to furnishing the lounge areas, IKEA provided 30 desks

in the upstairs loft, and three large computer tables that

accommodate two computers per table.

Kathy Woodward, IKEA’s activities decorator in its communication

and interior design department, said that the library had a

tremendous need for the computer tables.

“As soon as we got [the computers] hooked up, students were

sitting here,” Woodward said.

Given the assignment of selecting furniture for the library,

Woodward said she chose pieces that would fit an academic

environment.

“IKEA things are more geared to the home,” Woodward said. “But we

thought we should do something for the school.”