ALSC Virtual Institute 2016: Putting SPELL (Supporting Parents in Early Literacy through Libraries) into Action: Partnerships and Best Practices Nurture Young

Putting SPELL (Supporting Parents in Early Literacy through Libraries) into Action: Partnerships and Best Practices Nurture Young

Beth Crist & Carol Edwards, Colorado State Library

This session outlined a research project in Colorado in which public libraries partnered with community organizations to provide literacy resources and encourage library access to a low-income families with young children (0-3).

Research began with an environmental scan to build understanding of current programs and the most effective ways to adjust parent behavior to benefit their children in the long term. A few key findings in efficacy in behavior change-

Time of implementation (expectant mothers most receptive to trainings)
Consistent routine
Active participant involvement
One-on-One training (participant & trainer)
Cultural Proficiency
Fun!

Researchers explored some of the main barriers to library use for low-income families with young children and barriers to reading in later years

Barriers to Library Use

transportation
language
work
nap times
lack of knowledge/familiarity with library
intimidation
belief their children are unwelcome
difficulty finding age appropriate materials

Barriers to Reading

lack of materials
language
literacy
depression
time/energy
access
cost
lack of info about attention to reading
concerns for reading in home language
lack of info on other early literacy activities
finding appropriate materials

After exploring these issues, researchers came up with a variety of suggestions to make libraries more accessible to a wide variety of populations and, perhaps most importantly, most accessible to our youngest patrons.

Recommendations:

Partner: work through existing infrastructures of organizations that support low income families & young children

Serve high need populations (be as inclusive as possible!):

Illustrated sheets (no words) more accessible for all populations-take home activities

Creative Storytimes: Kits for CKO "Literacy Launch Kits" --these seem similar to our Storypacks, maybe with just a little focus on reaching out emergent readers as well (including beginning readers, hand outs & pathfinders for parents, etc.

Library Orientations

Bus families into the library-- reach out to teen parents & young families in the community

Partner with EC Centers (love everything about this!!)
- bookmobile show up at drop off & pick up times, more accessible to parents
- partner to model developmentally appropriate practices for teachers and families

Read it Down programs (read for x amount of time to forgive library fines—ex: 15 mins of reading =$.50 off your fine). Include Read-To-Me's & caregivers in this program.

Create an area for quiet reading
- Awesome suggestions in session chat included-
  - using storytime rooms
  - ambient music
  - host during cooler months/ over a break to pull in more people
  - create soft, cozy spaces for parents & children to read together (I love this—in an ideal world, reading is a fantastic, magical experience & young children learn to embrace it by engaging in this with their loved ones. I feel that very often the focus has switched to hard core academics at an early time and that makes reading feel like a chore rather than a loved activity. We should bring a sense of wonder back to reading!)