Public library

Basic Service: Story time for preschoolers. Promotes: Hearing language, being read aloud to, socialization, cognitive development for building later learning, modeling reading aloud and interaction for parents and caregivers, reading motivation, playing with language. Best Practice: Parent training and mentoring. Promotes: Socialization, language-skill building, book selection, motivation, joy of reading. Best Practice: Programming with families. Promotes: Lifelong use of library, motivation, parent/child interaction, independent reading, access to materials, early/emergent literacy. Best Practice: Child-care provider training and mentoring. Promotes: Early/emergent literacy, book selection, motivation, joy of reading, playing with language.

Traditionally, emergent storybook reading and emergent writing in the home have been seen as the major site of literacy development (Sulzby, 1991), however because so many children are in preschool situations and because so many families have [Limited English Proficiency], more emphasis is being put on the need for literacy development at out-of-the-home settings.

Libraries are places that are free to everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, language, or age. They are open to the public 7 days a week. Because low socio-economic and minority children are at risk in term of early literacy development and because books and literacy materials are less accessible to poor parents and their children, public libraries’ role as a free, public provider becomes even more vital to meeting this population’s demands for literacy materials and support.

[W.H.] Teale (1995) points out that libraries and librarians, working cooperatively with family literacy programs or other community wide programs, may serve children in their homes or in libraries. Teale also suggests that libraries can employ special programs that promote children’s early literacy development or they may distribute materials to be used in homes or child care settings.