August 22, 2007

I M M E D I A T E  R E L E A S E

contact person
Jefferson County Library Cooperative
“Born to Read @Your Library” Committee
Carol Melton
(205) 445-1110
carolm@bham.lib.al.us

Born to Read @ Your Library

The public libraries of Jefferson County will launch the new Born to Read @ Your Library early literacy program in area hospitals in September. Area libraries hope the program will impact the entire community by helping parents of infants form the groundwork to support life-long language and reading development. The libraries are committed to bringing literacy resources to every parent of a newborn in Jefferson County.

Beginning September 2007 all parents of infants born at area birthing hospitals will receive a special literacy tote bag full of early literacy information and gifts. The Born to Read @ Your Library tote bag includes a coupon for the infant’s first board book, a diaper bag ID tag, a list of the 39 area libraries with their addresses, phone numbers with websites, as well as fact sheets provided by the United Way’s “Success by 6” program, offering a guide to age appropriate play and bonding activities for infants birth to 3 months. The coupon for the free book is redeemable at any Jefferson County library. When parents come into the library to redeem their coupon, the trained library staff will offer an orientation to the parent on all the early literacy resources available from storytimes to children’s music CDs. Hopefully, the free book will be just the first of many literacy experiences gained by the child at his library.

If the Born to Read @ Your Library program meets its goals, parents will be better informed about early literacy, young children will grow in their understanding and appreciation of literacy, and parents and children will learn about and utilize literacy opportunities at their libraries. Born to Read @ Your Library is funded by The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, Publix Supermarkets, the Jefferson County Library Cooperative, and United Way Success by 6. The program is also made possible by the participation of Brookwood Medical Center, Cooper Green Mercy Hospital, Princeton Baptist, St. Vincent’s Hospital, St. Vincent’s East Hospital, Trinity Medical Center and UAB Hospital.

The Jefferson County Library Cooperative (JCLC) is a non-profit organization composed of the 40 public libraries throughout Jefferson County. These include the 18 municipal libraries, the 21 libraries in the Birmingham Public Library System, along with the Birmingham Botanical Gardens Library. The mission behind the JCLC is to link together the member libraries to provide better, more efficient centralized services for all county residents. For more information about the JCLC, please visit www.jclc.org.