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.”