OCLC

The grant will support an 18-month project in five states and in partnership with Washington State Library and Thrive by Five Washington, two leaders in that state’s early learning efforts. The aim of the new program will be to introduce a new service model to public libraries for library staff to deliver interactive programs for young children that will impact early childhood literacy. Thousands of U.S. public libraries offer programs, such as story time, for young children and are already attuned to early literacy best practices. The methodology and tools used in this model were researched, designed and tested by the University of Washington, and piloted in 20 libraries in collaboration with Washington State Library from 2009 to 2014. The results showed that intentional focus on early literacy skills improved results for young children. The new service model, based on the rigorously researched and field-tested approach, can now be applied broadly to augment the efficacy of current library programs.