Page 5 - Demo

SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES UNITE Students with access to the public library are more likely to succeed in school, develop a lifelong love of reading and continue to use the library into adulthood. However, not every student has a library card. To remove barriers, the Allegheny County Library Association initiated the school library card program.In the last 4.5 years, more than 50,000 students in 17 school districts across Allegheny County have received library cards. Sixteen of these districts received full-access, physical library cards. These students have access to all materials provided by the public library with no limitations and these cards are also fine free. One district provided digital cards to the high school students, which allowed access to all eResources and the option of receiving a full-access card upon visiting the library. Those participating libraries all saw an increase in circulation and eResources usage. The program is receiving accolades from many of the partners.%u201cThank you so much for providing my students with library cards this year! I have seen a substantial uptick in my students%u2019 use of the books and other educational materials that you offer the community. Their lessons have dramatically improved and their understanding of the availability of resources is a lifelong skill they are developing.%u201d %u2013Baldwin Whitehall School District teacherNO SUCH THING AS TOO SOONMany parents do not realize that learning and kindergarten readiness begins at birth. A study by Zero to Three found 45% of parents believe %u201cthe benefits of reading together start two years old or older%u201d when in fact %u201cchildren%u2019s language skills benefit from reading with parents and caregivers beginning at about six months old.%u201d Libraries are in a key position to help educate new and expectant parents about the importance of reading and learning with your child, regardless of their age.The Baby Bag project started in the Jefferson Regional Foundation footprint with Kids Plus Pediatrics. Bags were created at ACLA and distributed to parents at the one-month visit. The goals were to create awareness of the public library and to educate parents about the importance of early literacy and reading to their child. Successful, yet hard to track whether patients were visiting a library, the Foundation funded another round for libraries in the area, followed by multiple rounds with the Grable Foundation for the rest of the County. The goals remained the same, but the project was executed on a smaller scale within each of their library communities. Some partnered with local organizations and others provided incentives for parents to return to the library to attend baby story time or get a library card.To date, 27 libraries have started programs and eight of those have created multiple rounds of bags, developed programs to support them and collaborated with partners in their community to distribute and promote. Each bag contains related items like books, manipulatives, and other resources for parents; however, each is individualized to the specific library. These items and resources will extend the work in baby programming to the home and give parents the confidence to be an active participant in their baby%u2019s learning.