Libraries and Emergent Literacy     Introduction

Introduction History Brain Research Pediatric Partners Parent Education Advocacy Conclusion Site Map References William Caskey LIBR 500: Foundations of Information Technology School of Library, Archival, and Information Science University of British Columbia Last updated April 15, 2005

This website offers an overview of what libraries can do to help caregivers and policy makers understand that early and rich language experiences are vitally important to children's success and happiness in school and, ultimately, throughout life. Libraries have an important role in fostering emergent literacy through interaction with children, caregivers, and other community agencies. The First Three Years Do you remember being read to as a child? Many children have great memories of quality time spent with parents or caregivers learning nursery rhymes, singing songs and playing word games. And if you do have these memories in your past, chances are you’re happier, healthier, and more successful than if you didn’t interact with print and language early on. Yet 16% of parents of children age three years and younger do not read at all with their children, and 23% do so only once or twice a week."1  Percentages are worse among low-income families, in which children face the highest risk of literacy problems. 2 The Cycle of Illiteracy Concepts about print are passed from parent or caregiver to child... or not. According to Reach Out and Read, an emergent literacy organization associated with the Boston University School of Medicine: Reading difficulty contributes to school failure, which increases the risk of absenteeism, leaving school, juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, and teenage pregnancy - all of which perpetuate the cycles of poverty and dependency. Families living in poverty often lack the money to buy new books, as well as access to libraries. Parents who may not have been read to as children themselves may not realize the tremendous value of reading to their own children. Children who live in print-rich environments and who are read to during the first years of life are more likely to learn to read on schedule. 3 Advances in brain research have drawn a connection between the bonding that occurs when children are read to during the first three years of life and their success later on. next>