Conclusion
The purpose of these programs is to support the community and ensure children are given opportunties to strengthen skills that will lead to their future academic success. With these programs librarians are able to provide the means to support families in this success. There is still room for growth in programming. For example, Campana et al. found that in a study of measured effectiveness many storytimes lack alphabetic principle and writing skills in storytime (2016). These absences are contributed to lack of training, group size, and limited supplies. This is why training staff in child development and literacy is so important. It provides the purpose and and encouragement that storytellers need to lead to successful programming and confidence to support caregivers. Though these are places for improvement, we know that supporting families through programming is important. In fact research has shown that parents of every age, education background, income level and ethnicity show significant increase to literacy behavior (Laughlin, 2003). What has been emphasized by this research and others is that not only are libraries supporting children, but also supporting parents. Libraries are helping set up generational literacy rich families so that this system of learning can be continuously supported. This in turn increases library visits and creates an active community with the library at the center. Using accessible programs, such as bilingual or play focused programming creates opportunities for all to learn and have fun. The goal of these programs is again to create programs that build community, life long learning, and a love of reading.
Photo by Adam Winger on Unsplash
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