Our Family Place Library has had a significant impact in the community. Through the Parent/Child Workshops, story times, and early childhood programs, parents have commented on the growth they've seen in their children's social skills. We saw the caregivers have rich, engaging conversations with the various resource professionals. One parent commented in the survey, “I was able to ask questions about my 2 year old’s speech development & get practical advice.” The families really embrace the library's service model in which we are working to address all dimensions of early childhood development.
It is also a joy for us and confirmation that the Family Place initiative is having a positive impact on children in our community when we see kids who attend story time growing in their pre-literacy skills. One week, after most of the story time families had left, we came across one of the families still using the space. The child was perched on a seat, running her own story time. She was “reading” to her caregiver and singing some of the songs we had sung that day. Her caregiver informed us that she has started playing story time at home as well and expresses excitement to go to the library where “the nice ladies read stories.”
We have expanded our partnerships to become more connected with the local public school district's Early Childhood Department and Parental Involvement Department. The Director of the Early Childhood Department encouraged her teachers to promote the library's Winter Wonderland with their students. The pre-kindergarten teachers across the school district shared the flyer, and we discovered that many of the families who attended had never been to the library before. Developing our partnerships in this way is helping us reach many new families.
Another meaningful development in our expansion of partners is that we are now able to send more children home with books to keep from our library events. The Harlingen Housing Authority, the HCISD Early Childhood Department, and the South Texas Literacy Coalition all have brought books for children to select and keep at library events.
With the introduction of the Parenting Collection, parents at programs have become more vocal about expressing their interests in books that cover different topics that relate to their family. From books on family financial planning to Waldorf education, parents are engaging with and taking ownership of the Parenting Collection.
Children gravitate to the space where we keep the Family Place learning toys. Caregivers talk about how much their children love coming to the library to play with the blocks and pretend play pieces. The play area invites conversations in which library staff can talk to families about the ways in which young children learn.