Iowa Libraries and Their Involvement in Early Literacy

Both the State Library and local public libraries have been deeply involved for years in early childhood learning.

Examples of how the State Library of Iowa supports early childhood learning are described below.  The State Library partners with the staff of the Library Service Areas to carry out many of these activities.  

• The State Library developed and taught a curriculum especially for public librarians on early childhood literacy development.  This curriculum includes strategies for librarians to use with 3-5 year olds in developing “ready to read” skills in reading, language and writing development.  Approximately 230 librarians attended the initial overview sessions on early literacy.  In addition, follow-up workshops have been held to support individual strategies from the early literacy curriculum such as using nonfiction with preschool children, developing language skills in children and in story retelling.  Approximately 250 Iowa public librarians have participated in some or all of the follow-up training sessions.

• Each year, the State Library provides a theme, curriculum, resource materials and training for public library staff for their summer library programs.  More than 500 public libraries attend the training sessions and offer a summer library program each year.  These programs are intended for preschoolers through high schoolers.

• The State Library of Iowa has been a stakeholder and regular participant since the beginning of Early Childhood Iowa, a group of committed advocates dedicated to developing a comprehensive system of programs and services for Iowa’s children ages zero to five.

• When the State Library revised its public library standards program (“In Service to Iowa: Public Library Measures of Quality”) in 2004, it added the following standard:  “The library offers outreach services to day care centers and other entities in which groups of preschool children gather....Outreach service includes collections and programming.”

• The State Library of Iowa partnered with the Iowa Department of Education to offer “Building Blocks to Early Literacy” in spring 2004, a two-day conference for early child care providers, librarians, educators and others who work with preschool children.

• The State Library is part of the “Every Child Reads: Ready to Read” work team at the Iowa Department of Education.  The State Library youth services consultant, along with DE consultants, provided “train the trainer” sessions to almost 500 people.

• The State Library continues to partner with Iowa Public Television to train librarians to work with parents on early literacy development skills.  Recently, librarians in 14 public libraries hosted training sessions for preschool parents on story retelling, which is an early literacy skill.

• Earlier this year, the State Library planned and presented six statewide educational sessions featuring noted early childhood language consultant Jane Kitson, from Atlanta, Georgia.  The topic of the training sessions was “Linking Language and Literacy Learning.”  More than 600 people attended these sessions, including librarians, preschool teachers, AEA consultant, child care providers, and other who work with young children.
• The State Library has exhibited and presented information about early literacy and libraries at the Iowa Association for the Education of Young Children, Family and Consumer Science Association, Iowa Early Care, Health and Education Congress.

 
Iowa’s 543 public libraries are an integral part of early childhood learning.  For many Iowa children, their local public library provides their first experiences with books, reading and literature.  Staff of the Library Service Areas as well as the State Library support Iowa’s public libraries as they sustain early childhood learning in many ways: 

Most local public libraries offer preschool and toddler story times in the library and also in local preschools, child care centers and in child care homes.

• Many local public libraries offer book delivery to local preschools, child care centers and child care homes.
• A growing number of local public libraries offer parent training opportunities on early literacy development.
• Many local public librarians are involved in local empowerment boards and early childhood coalitions in their communities.
• More than 500 public libraries each year offer summer reading programs for children from preschool through high school age.  Approximately 129,448 Iowa children participate in these programs annually.
• Many public libraries sponsor or co-sponsor “Books for Babies” programs in which the parents of all newborn babies in the local community are given a book and information about early literacy development.  Early childhood organizations and local hospitals are frequent partners with the libraries in these projects.
• In many Iowa communities, public library staff members are regularly asked to make presentations to groups of child care providers, Head Start employees, and other community organizations on early childhood literacy topics such as selection of books for young children.

The most recent project that the State Library and Library Service Areas are just beginning is librarians offering parent training through local preschool classrooms on early literacy strategies.  This project is just beginning.