University of Washington

Early literacy programs are very common in public libraries across the nation, but libraries struggle to find accurate and meaningful ways to measure the impact these programs have on children. Building on a 2009 research planning grant from IMLS, researchers in the University of Washington Information School and partners, including the Early Learning Public Library Partnership, the Foundation for Early Learning, and the Washington State Library, will investigate and test new ways to measure the effectiveness of early literacy programs in public libraries. The research will focus on measuring early literacy outcomes for children from birth to entering kindergarten, and will leverage innovative public library and school partnerships. The investigation will be conducted in Washington, but will be structured so that the results, tools, and methodology are available to libraries across the country.