Australian Bookstart: a national issue, a compelling case. A report to the nation by Friends of Libraries Australia (FOLA).

Bookstart, Born to read, Books for babies, Read with me or Let's read programs generally endeavour to ensure that all babies, through their parents or caregivers, receive a free kit containing at least one quality board book, information on the critical importance of developing the literacy of children by reading to them as babies, and information on public library membership and storytimes. A 2004 survey of Australian public libraries showed that a number of libraries were involved in forms of Bookstart programs, and that many others wished to provide Bookstart. Lack of funding and staff time, were the major constraints on them doing so. From research and British, US and other international experience, a nationally inclusive, systematic and evaluated Australian Bookstart program provided through public libraries in association with early childhood health agencies, would provide an outstanding national literacy development return for a low overall investment of $2 million pa. Such a program will require leadership from the Australian government and cooperation between it, state/territory, and local governments

**********

Read in order to live Gustave Flaubert

In 1920 H G Wells observed that 'Human history becomes more and more a ,race between education and catastrophe. In that race

* fundamental to education, lifelong learning and the sustenance of democratic institutions in the knowledge age is information literacy--recognition of the need for information and the capacity to identify, access, evaluate, synthesise and apply the needed information

* fundamental to the development of an information literate and questioning citizenry remains the capacity to read well

* fundamental to the development of the capacity to read well is for its development to commence as early as possible, and well before formal schooling commences.

Yet member countries of the OECD still have up to half of their adult populations not reading at the level of literacy required for everyday life in an increasingly information-intensive world. In Australia 44 per cent of adults are deficient in their literacy and numeracy. Even more lack information literacy, a natural extension of literacy as the 'umbrella' or 'functional' literacy of the 21 st century. (1)

As the Australian Library and Information Association's Statement on libraries and literacy states (alia.org.au/policies/library.literacy.html)

   Rapid social change, the emphasis on lifelong education,
   the increasing rate of technological development and the
   movement towards an information based society are
   factors which suggest, as never before, that literacy is an
   essential instrument for effective participation in society.

   The illiterate person can be substantially disadvantaged.
   It is essential to democratic processes of government that
   citizens have the skills and opportunities to inform
   themselves on matters of community and national interest
   and participate in the decision making process.

   The scope for access to information resources is growing
   and will be increased enormously as communications
   technology becomes more sophisticated. Nevertheless,
   the communications media of the foreseeable future will
   continue to assume the user's capacity to read and
   understand the written word.

Illiteracy thus comes at great cost to the life and potential of the individual. It also comes at great cost to the community in terms, for example, of occupational health and safety, societal dysfuntionality and crime at all levels, particularly that committed by young males. A forceful reminder of this and of the high cost of illiteracy, is that typically 60 per cent of prisoners are illiterate or have marginal literacy. Addressing it as an adult issue in a coordinated and well resourced way must be a priority for Australia. It must also continue to be a priority in school education.

However, as Geraldine Casterton, president of the Australian Council for Adult Literacy observed in 2001

   2001 marks the 10th anniversary of the release of
   Australia's language and literacy policy ... at the time of
   the release Australia was thought to be at the vanguard of
   adult literacy policy and provision internationally. Now,
   ten years down the track, we are falling behind ...
   with a dying commitment from federal and state
   governments resulting in poorly coordinated action,
   fragmented, under resourced provision and lack of
   appropriate accountability measures. (2)

Beginning with Bookstart *

It has been fairly stated that literacy development is the most important social justice issue in education. However, the continuing need to address illiteracy as an adult issue indicates earlier failure by parents, formal education, public libraries and other community educational agencies.

It is now recognised that children need to be introduced to books and reading at the earliest age possible, well before their school years. Dorothy Butler, the New Zealand educator, emphasised this 25 years ago in her seminal text Babies need books. (3)

This is because children learn more in their first five years than at any other time in their lives, with the first two years being an extremely important time for language development. Numerous studies have shown that children who are read to from an early age learn more sounds, develop listening skills, extend their vocabularies, imaginations and understandings of concepts, and learn to read by themselves more easily. Their parents or caregivers, however, may need sensitive and nonstigmatising awareness raising, encouragement and support in providing this critical early learning experience for their babies and children.

Numerous researchers and writers after Butler have reinforced her message. For example, in Read me a story: parents, teachers and children as partners in literacy learning Julie Spreadbury reviews the post 1952 research, including her own Brisbane study, on the importance of the family to children's literacy learning. She notes that a 1980s longitudinal study found that

   Reading ability at age seven was found to be
   strongly predicted by knowledge of literacy on
   entry to school and this in turn was predicted by
   parents' interest in literacy and the quality of the parent
   verbal interaction with the child in the years before
   school. By the time the child began school she or he was
   knowledgeable about books and reading and this became
   predictive of later success in reading. Parents and the
   home environment were thus directly responsible for the
   child's concept of literacy.
   The parent effect found to be the most crucial was active
   encouragement of literacy activities (such as bedtime
   story reading) and the provision of reading and writing
   activities in the home. (4)

Gloria Rolton in Read to me, published by the Australian Council for Educational Research in 2001, observes that

   Children who live in homes where reading is valued,
   where they have been surrounded by books, handled
   books visited libraries and enjoyed listening to stories
   have a great advantage when they begin school. They
   have already gained many of the skills for learning to
   read. And they have learnt these skills while having fun.
   These children see reading as something that is a normal
   activity to be enjoyed, not a difficult 'school-only'
   activity. They assume that they will learn to read because
   every one at home does. (5)

Rolton focuses on the importance of the selection of high quality books for reading to children, to which further reference is made in this report because some well meaning Bookstart programs have relied on cheap or donated books of very poor quality.

South Australian writer, educator and literacy consultant, Mem Fox, is the leading current Australian advocate of reading to babies as the vital starting point of family literacy programs. She has asserted

   Reading aloud is the most important tool in literacy
   education ... if every parent--and every adult caring for a
   child--read aloud a minimum of three stories a day to the
   children in their lives, we could probably wipe out
   illiteracy within one generation. (6)

The world of education and literacy development has witnessed many passing fads and claimed panaceas over the years. Fox's assertion, and those of other advocates, may be judged thus by the sceptic. However, from the US, UK and Western Australia, there is unequivocal evidence of its essential truth.

The US evidence is in the report of the Early Literacy Project (7) which evaluated the results of early literacy programs involving 30,000 children and 14 libraries. This study answered two questions, the support of public libraries for parent and caregiver education for early literacy and 'when parent and caregivers of low income children take part in early literacy programs designed by the ... Early Literacy initiative, do they understand and use the best practices they learn?'

   It was found that the project 'resulted in substantial
   changes in knowledge, skills and behaviour for
   parents, caregivers, libraries and the communities
   they serve ... parents of every age, educational
   background, income level and ethnicity
   significantly increased their literacy behaviour.

Reinforcing the point, American libraries 11 February 2002 carried the following item

   A Chicago Public Library program to expand the
   number of books and other materials available to
   readers younger than age 9 was announced
   February 7 by Mayor Richard Daley. 'The object is
   to get children excited about reading before they
   are old enough to read', Daley said at a news
   conference held at the library's new Austin-Irving
   branch.

   The Get wild about reading program, designed to
   get children 'behind a book instead of in front of
   the television' as they mayor put it, arose from an
   April 2001 reading roundtable of university
   professors and school administrators Daley
   assembled to find ways to improve reading scores
   in Chicago public schools, according to the
   February 8 Chicago tribune. 'We heard loudly and
   clearly that starting at birth was the only way we
   were going to get children reading and excited
   about reading', Library Commissioner Mary
   Dempsey said.

The US Born to read project sponsored by the Association for Library Service to Children of the American Library Association has, since the mid 1990s, prompted numerous local projects based on the success at five demonstration sites involving public libraries and health care providers. (8)

The evidence from the UK is the outstanding success, and real return on modest investment by the British government, charities and a major commercial sponsor (Sainsbury, the supermarket chain), of its world leading and comprehensive Bookstart scheme. This commenced in 1992 in Birmingham when 300 inner city lower socioeconomic families received free books for 7-8 month old babies, and advice on book sharing from health visitors.

The UK Bookstart scheme

The following information is from the Bookstart partnership report June 2003 (9)

   What is Bookstart? Bookstart is a national program that
   works through locally based organisations to give a free
   pack with books to babies and guidance materials for
   parents and carers. It aims to promote a lifelong love of
   books and is based on the principle that every child in the
   UK should enjoy and benefit from books from as early an
   age as possible.

   How does it work? The program is based on partnership.
   It is coordinated nationally by the independent,
   educational charity Booktrust. Schemes throughout the
   UK order materials through Booktrust and distribute
   packs locally. Schemes are usually coordinated by the
   library service, but sometimes through education or
   health services, who place local library information and
   an invitation to join the library in the pack. Packs are
   usually delivered to families at babies' 7-9 month health
   check with their health visitor.

   Partnership is the vital ingredient and it is a unique
   triumph of the program that it has facilitated numerous
   new links between organisations within the early years
   sector. 90% of library authorities said that Bookstart has
   enabled them to develop new partnerships (The Library
   Association, Early Years Survey 2001)

   How is it funded? National level funding for English
   schemes currently comes via an annual grant of 500,000 [pounds
   sterling] from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport
   (DCMS). The devolved nations (Northern Ireland,
   Scotland and Wales) have central funding via their
   respective governments. A number of other charities and
   organisations have also contributed to Bookstart over the
   last few years.

   In addition to this, Booktrust has negotiated partnerships
   with a number of children's book publishers who provide
   books at a greatly reduced rate, at cost or for free. All of
   this reduces the cost of the Bookstart pack from what
   would be a retail price of 14 [pounds sterling] to only 2.50
   [pounds sterling].

   Schemes in England pay for these reduced cost packs
   through local funding. Schemes have received funding
   primarily from the library service, Early Years
   Development and Childcare Partnerships (EYDCPs),
   Sure Start and health authorities.

   Who else is involved? In addition to over 4,000 libraries,
   12,000 health visitors, government sponsors and over 14
   publishers involved in Bookstart, Booktrust consults with
   numerous organisations such as the DCMS, Department
   for Education and Skills (DfES), the Basic Skills Agency,
   the Community Practitioners and Health Visitors
   Association (CPHVA) and the Chartered Institute of
   Library and Information Professionals (CILIP). There is
   also a Library Working Group, Health Professionals
   Working Group and multi-agency steering committee
   providing guidance to the national program.

   Who gets Bookstart? Booktrust aims that every baby in
   the UK will get a Bookstart pack. It is estimated that the
   program reaches 90% of babies in the UK, as a few areas
   do not have a functioning scheme at present.
   Booktrust's Schemes Liaison Officer offers support
   to these areas to help facilitate Bookstart there. Any
   baby that has not received a pack at their 7-9 month
   health check is eligible for a free mini pack from
   Booktrust.

   Bookstart is for every baby--that is its appeal. But
   many schemes find that it is an especially useful
   tool to reach out to socially excluded groups. And
   because it is for everyone, it is non-stigmatising.
   Bookstart began in 1992 with 300 babies. In 2000,
   there were 650,000. Since 2001 there have been
   1,170,061 Bookstart babies.

   Does it make a difference? YES it does!
   Bookstart children do better in school. Research by
   Wade and Moore (1998) showed that children who
   had Bookstart were clearly ahead in both literacy
   and numeracy upon entering school. Further
   research (2000) showed that this head start was
   maintained through Key Stage 1 as Bookstart
   children did significantly better than their
   counterparts in both teacher assessment and test
   results.

   Research by the University of Surrey Roehampton
   has also shown that Bookstart families have better
   book sharing skills and ways of extending reading
   as an activity. They read more with babies and
   young children, are more likely to join the library,
   are more confident with regard to reading to
   children and are more aware of the role reading can
   play in speech/language development.

The Bookstart report includes details of the seven critical elements of a Bookstart scheme, and notes that international interest in Bookstart is growing. It has been adopted in Japan where, with 98 per cent of the population literate, its main benefit is seen as promoting family bonding and parenting skills. The report also notes that two Australian schemes have affiliated with Bookstart, and another has expressed interest. A significant extension of UK Bookstart is Booktouch, a program which aims to get blind and partially sighted babies and toddlers 'bookstarted'. (10) Funding has also been received recently to distribute two more kits, one for 2-3 year olds and another for 4 year olds.

Bookstart research

An important aspect of UK Bookstart as an early intervention strategy to develop the foundation of literacy has been the investment in quantitative and qualitative evaluation, against a background of largely only quantitative research in the area. This approach by the researchers, Maggie Moore and Barrie Wade, involved obtaining qualitative data in interviews with librarians, health visitors, nursery nurses and the project coordinator--the lay professionals working with families in the local authority.

They concluded that

   Interviews with these Bookstart professionals are all
   overwhelmingly positive about the value of giving books
   to babies and their role in the process. None of the
   participants interviewed had negative opinions.

   Interviews with library staff demonstrate their firm
   commitment to the role that book sharing has to play in
   children's early development. The librarians who run the
   Cradle Club are committed to supporting parents in book
   sharing and providing the necessary environment in
   which this can occur. Other benefits are the social
   interactions and learning opportunities that parents and
   children are able to enjoy.

   It is evident that the role of health visitors is crucial in
   introducing and explaining the pack. They have seen an
   increase in the enthusiasm of parents for books as well as
   a development in parents' abilities and skills in sharing
   books with their children. In fact, the Bookstart project is
   seen as a facilitating factor in the work that health visitors
   are engaged in.

   Nursery nurses comment on how Bookstart benefits not
   only children, but also other members of the family. They
   are able to use their professional skills to develop the
   literacy beginnings made by Bookstart and to use the
   project as a model to help and engage those children from
   families who had not benefited from the project.

   The project coordinator emphasises that Bookstart is
   essentially a simple and effective idea, but one that works
   in all situations. Nonetheless, efforts have still to be made
   to involve and engage hard to reach families. All
   professionals recognise that, despite all the benefits it
   offers, Bookstart cannot be a panacea for all aspects of
   poor parenting; nonetheless, it is seen as an important
   beginning.

   These qualitative evaluations have shown that Bookstart
   is successful in that it has generated positive attitudes to,
   and an interest in, books and book sharing in a wide
   range of families. The results suggest that some 'fringe'
   parents may need special injections of support included
   with their book gifts. This has implications for already
   very busy health visitors. However, these professionals
   express their willingness to make contact with hard to
   reach families and see Bookstart as a mainstream aspect
   of their most important work. The evaluations also point
   to the necessity of greater awareness of the needs of
   parents whose first language is not English. (11)

The only Australian independently researched evaluation of something like a Bookstart program is an outcome of the Better beginnings program, part of the WA government's early years strategy which aims to improve literacy outcome for young children in lower socioeconomic circumstances.

Undertaken by researchers at Edith Cowan University, preliminary findings were reported at the CECDE conference in Eire in July 2004. (12)

Bookstart in Australia and New Zealand

It appears that at least several New Zealand public libraries, such as Wellington, already provide a form of Bookstart. In July 2004 New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark officiated at the launch of the Dymock's Literacy Foundation in New Zealand, at which the first of the foundation's projects--Books for NZ babies--was announced. Patrons of the foundation include NZ children's writer Margaret Mahy, and bestselling Australian author Bryce Courtenay. Australia has no commitment yet to a national approach.

The first sustained large Australian Bookstart initiative appears to have been by the City of Moreland Libraries in metropolitan Melbourne. However, from the survey responses, the earliest continuing program has been provided since 1990 by the Cummins School Community Library on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. This joint use public-school library serves a total population of about 5,000 people in a rural area which has a reputation for self starting innovation and achievement. Another joint use public school library in rural South Australia, Quorn, appears to supply one of the best Bookstart kits in Australia, which includes a copy of Mem Fox's Reading magic.

The Moreland Bookstart was launched in August 2000. In a journal article published in 2002, Genimaree Panozzo, the Community Relations Librarian for Moreland, notes that its scheme

   ... is modelled on the UK scheme of the same name
   which is coordinated by the Book Trust and aimed
   at encouraging parents and carers to read to babies.
   The Bookstart kit is distributed to every newborn
   Moreland baby through the maternal and child
   health nurses. The kit, complete with calico library
   bag, features a board book and advice on
   developing children's reading skills from an early age as
   well as information on parenting resources. Where
   possible, a bilingual board book is provided for LOTE
   speakers. The library's booklet contained in the
   kit--Reading is forever: how to develop your child's
   reading skills and have fun together--is also available
   free to all Moreland residents, schools and centres.

   The Bookstart kit has been overwhelmingly successful
   and has been the source for the most accolades regarding
   the Moreland reading project. Results from a survey with
   300 respondents found that 35 per cent of parents began
   to read to their babies for the first time as a result of the
   kit while 60 per cent began reading to their babies more
   often.

   A number of other library services have implemented, or
   are planning to implement, similar Bookstart schemes
   and I hope that one day Australia may follow the UK lead
   and with sponsorship, establish a national rollout of this
   worthwhile project. The original 1992 recipients of the
   Bookstart kit in Birmingham are being tracked against a
   control group. Given that this research has revealed that
   Bookstart children are consistently performing better at
   school than the control group, including at mathematics,
   there seems no better project to give children a good start
   to education and life skills.

   The Moreland Library Service intends to become
   affiliated with the Book Trust's Bookstart program,
   thereby drawing on the Trust's considerable expertise and
   research. Our library service will also introduce 10-15
   minute rhyme time sessions for babies based on UK
   models which will reinforce the messages in the
   Bookstart kits. (13)

The 2003 edition of the Directory of Australian public libraries, (14) using information supplied by libraries in October 2002, recorded that only eight Australian local authorities were providing, or commencing, Bookstart programs through their public libraries. These were

It is likely that a few other local authorities were providing a form of Bookstart, but did not identify that they were doing so. It is also likely that variations on the Bookstart concept have been, and are being, attempted by various child support and state government agencies and community organisations such as Rotary and Lions but with no direct connection with the local public library system.

One such current initiative is the Royal Children's Hospital (Melbourne) Let's read program which involves the distribution of a limited number of age appropriate books to parents of young children in four local authorities on the eastern fringe of Melbourne. (15)

Extrapolating, however, from the populations served by those public libraries that did so identify, only about 4 per cent of Australian babies may have been receiving a form of Bookstart at the end of 2002. This compares with over 90 per cent of UK babies actually receiving Bookstart.

At a 2004 national committee meeting in Melbourne, Friends of Libraries Australia (Fola) discussed the Bookstart need in Australia. It endorsed a proposal that Fola undertake a mailed survey of public libraries sponsored by Auslib Press to identify Bookstart provision and barriers to its national adoption, with its outcomes to be made widely available as a stimulus for national consultation and action.

The survey

The one page survey was mailed in May 2004 to all Australian public library services, a total of 534 individual services with 1560 branches.

Responses were requested by 14 June 2004. No follow up was attempted of those libraries failing to respond, although a number of late responses from NSW and Queensland, in particular, were received following the wide dissemination of a draft report in September 2004.

The total responses were 149, or about 27 per cent of the public library services in Australia. This response rate was not unexpected, as a number of the 534 individual services are small rural single branch services with limited, or no, professional staff, particularly in Queensland and Western Australia.

Of the 149 libraries responding, 117 were not involved in a Bookstart program, and 32 were, or were commencing such involvement.

Twelve questions were asked of the survey recipients

1 Does your service provide a Bookstart/Books for Babies program? (usually a kit to parents of new or young babies containing board books, information on the importance of reading to babies, a library card and information on library storytimes)

2 If you do not, what are the reasons/barriers?

3 If you do, for how long?

4 What does it cost each year?

5 Who pays?

6 What is in the kits?

7 How do you identify recipients?

8 How do they receive the kit?

9 At what age do they receive the kit?

10 What percentage of new babies receive it?

11 Since you have provided kits has it made any difference to library membership/attendance at storytimes?

12 Comments/suggestions/issues?

Libraries not involved in a Bookstart program

Of the 117 negative responses, the overwhelming majority indicated that they would like to be involved in a Bookstart program but that lack of local authority support, and financial and staffing resources, precluded it.

Six responses indicated plans to establish a program subject to local authority or grant approval. Another 14, mostly small country libraries, indicated that they had not heard of Bookstart but wished to know more about the concept.

However many of these libraries, although not involved in a Bookstart program, provided considerable information on other ways they were attempting to support family literacy development despite limited resources, and lack of children's and young adult (YA) librarians to foster them.

Comments included

* We have a fantastic storytime for preschoolers---regular attendance of 35-40. However lack of staff is the main reason we do not offer Books for babies. Country library WA

* I have not been approached and I personally assumed that hospitals provide that service. Country library SA

* I would love to be able to provide this service but my library has no budget for it. Country library, Qld

* We do encourage baby membership through 'If you are born you can borrow' displays, pamphlets sent to day care centres, child health centres and playgroups etc. Metropolitan library WA

* We could probably do something in the short term but being able to maintain a program cost wise would be difficult. Large regional library Qld

* The hospital is also used by mothers from other council areas--we cannot service them all, although we would like to. Children learn preliteracy and literacy skills before school with their parents. All library employees would be happy to support a request to the federal government and other areas to encourage this funding. Large regional library Qld

* We are investigating opportunities to provide this with our Friends of the Library group.

Large regional library Vic

* We are waiting for the State Better beginnings program next year. Country library WA

* There should be no barriers--some things only need suggesting. Country library WA

* In my former life as a NZ librarian we did have a similar program and it was a very positive marketing tool. Country library WA

* We would like to be part of this program as we have a large under 8 population and being in a mining town, no extended family situation. Country library WA

* The WA State Library has started a Books for babies program which we are keeping a close eye on.

Metropolitan library WA

* We have been unable to fund an ongoing project

Country library Qld

* I talk at infant/welfare centres to new mums and highlight benefits of reading. Country library Vic

* It is a wonderful idea that deserves support ... but if it cannot be sustained it can become a burden, defeats the purpose and quality drops. Regional library Qld

* We conduct a Head Start program (early literacy K-grade3) and also Project G.O.A.L. (grade ones at the library). We would love to give Books for babies as well but financial considerations do not permit. With the support of Friends of Libraries Australia etc, maybe we can make it happen. Regional library Qld

* Community Services in our council gives out a kit under the Birth to kindergarten program, but we cannot afford to include library information in it--the scheme is very new. Country library NSW

* I moved to Australia from New Zealand in February 2004 and have been struck by the financial constraints on libraries such as ours, particularly compared to my previous well funded library where we had a heavy emphasis on services to students. I was surprised that was not the case here as we have low literacy levels.

Country library NSW

* We do not provide a program as such but I am a member of the Bega community group 'Birth to kindergarten'. We rely on sponsorship to fund the costs of books to give the new mums in the Bega hospital but we can't afford to give to new mums in the other hospital in the Shire. Along with the books we include the library brochure, a list of suggested reading for toddlers, storytime leaflet and library membership form. Country library NSW

* We costed something like this a couple of years ago (one book in a welcome pack with membership forms and library info etc)--total cost estimated at about 15 per cent of our book vote). When the idea was raised with the library committee (3 councils) it was considered too expensive, a small target group with the benefits not able to be measured. The most compelling argument against it was that ours is a district hospital with about 200 births per year. The mothers come from about 7 local government areas and our library is funded by only 3 of these councils. Because our town is also a 'service town' for a large rural district and out service already supported/s the surrounding councils who have smaller libraries with less hours/services, through a reciprocal borrowing agreement this would never be an option here unless it was supported by funding from a sponsor or the state or federal government. Country library NSW

* The major problem is the funding of the program. It would be possible to get one off funding but a program like this needs recurrent funding. However we decided that the issue of parents reading to their children was too important so we have set up a program which we fund ourselves, a practical lapsit session called Babytime and a parental training program. Metropolitan library NSW

* Upper Murray Regional Library is developing a program for mums and babies. We are working with one of our eight councils to develop the model. It has not yet been completely developed but will target mums who do not read to their children due to their own low literacy levels. Basically we will not provide books but will work with the mums in their environment and encourage them to develop the skills they need to feel comfortable in reading to their children. The long term aim is to have the mums use the library for their books and to provide them with a support network within their peers. Large regional library NSW/VIC

* ... it all has to start somewhere and Bookstart would be a very positive step. Having spoken with local speech therapists, preschools and school principals I know they share our concerns and are horrified at the low level of home reading. Regional library NSW

Building a literate nation: the key role of public libraries

Australian public libraries are unique public agencies. They have nearly 1600 access points freely accessible to 99 per cent of the population, and are used regularly by 60 per cent of Australians. They are also distinctive in endeavouring to meet the educational, informational, cultural and recreational needs of all people from 'cradle to grave'. No other public agency or educational provider has such a wide remit. They are the most trafficked public buildings in Australia and the most heavily used and valued community provision by local and state government.

They are very high achievers on funding which currently represents only 7c per Australian per day, or a national total of $550 million, about half the annual expenditure of just one large university.

Nonetheless, their current and potential contribution, in partnership with other agencies, to improving people's lives and developing social and educational capital is not always well understood by those agencies or by local, state or national governments. This point is made by Neil McClelland, the former director of the UK National Literacy Trust in a paper Building a literate nation: the key role of public libraries given at the Western Australian public libraries conference in March 2003. He stated that, over nine years as the Trust's director, he had become convinced of the need for public libraries to have fully integrated involvement in national policies and that

   ... libraries have a unique and potentially highly
   influential contribution to make to a number of other
   important social policy areas such as

   * early years

   * lifelong learning

   * social inclusion and economic and community
     regeneration

   ... we need libraries to play a central and influential
   role ... (16)

At the same conference Sue North, the consultant for WA public library services, in a paper Catching them in the cradle: family literacy programs stated

   The prosperity of today's society is drawn from its
   human capital. There is no doubt that as we progress
   through the twenty first century there are increasingly
   compelling reasons for governments to invest in
   resources that will instil in citizens an ability to
   acquire the knowledge and skills for lifelong learning.
   Good literacy skills are not only an essential
   foundation for performance in formal education but
   also a prerequisite for successful participation in all
   areas of adult life. In particular, children must receive
   the information literacy development they need to
   recognise their need for, and to handle, the variety and
   abundance of written information that they will
   encounter throughout their lives. The opportunities
   that children receive in their early years will impact
   substantially on their opportunities in later life.
   Providing these falls primarily to parents.
   Families today are raising children under very
   different social circumstances to previous generations.
   Because of this they often require more flexible
   combinations of formal and informal social support.
   Public libraries are ideally placed to extend the social
   investment that communities make in their young
   people. (17)

This is emphasised in the Newcastle Region Library's excellent leaflet Ten minutes a day which is included in several of the Bookstart kits provided by Australian public libraries.

Survey conclusions

In the assessment of how well the individual local governments, states and territories of Australia are responding to these issues, the survey indicates that a form of Bookstart is available, or will be soon, to 1.76 million Australians, 7 per cent of the population. About 7 per cent of Australian babies may thus now receive kits, compared with 4 per cent at the end of 2002. This is some, but inadequate, progress. Progress at the same rate means that it will take over 25 years before Bookstart is provided to all Australian parents and babies.

In addition, there appear to be some Bookstart type programs which are provided by infant health agencies, or as initiatives by community organisations, but without public library involvement or connection. This lack of connection is unfortunate, as the public library is the community's major resource for quality reading resources for children and storytelling, particularly for lower socioeconomic, culturally and linguistically diverse and isolated communities.

The survey responses also indicate the extent to which Australian public libraries are attempting to promote family literacy and reading in school age children, young adults and beyond. A national consultation on Australian Bookstart would inevitably raise the need for better support for those efforts but nothing should distract from a focus, as the first priority, on Bookstart provided to all Australian babies regardless of the socioeconomic and educational circumstances into which they have been born

* The Australian Capital Territory has the most inclusive large Australian Bookstart program, similar to the UK program. Babies and their parents and caregivers in the nation's capital are advantaged relative to those in most parts of Australia. The City of Moreland in Melbourne also provides a national exemplar.

* Tasmania's recently introduced statewide lending scheme Babies who read, succeed is a variant of the Bookstart program, which has been well accepted. Its limitation--like that provided by Mudgee and Wollongong libraries in NSW and Adelaide Hills in SA--is that it is primarily of benefit to babies whose parents who already access a public library, who are more likely to be aware of the importance of reading to babies, and to be confident readers themselves. It is unlikely to be getting to those parents and babies who have most need, the 'at risk' parents and babies which have been the primary rationale for overseas Bookstart programs.

* Western Australia has more individual libraries some quite small--providing Bookstart than any other state, with over 1000 parent toolkits given away in pilot programs. A reading gateway has also been established (http//web.liswa.wa.gov.au/read.html). Its Better beginnings family literacy program has potential to underpin a statewide Bookstart program, and as a template for a national approach. Importantly, it has a quantitative and qualitative evaluation component involving researchers from Edith Cowan University, using funding from that university's commendable industry collaboration scheme grants.

* The State Library of Queensland's innovation grants have permitted local pilots of Bookstart programs, but apparently no ongoing funding.

* NSW, NT, South Australia and Victoria as yet have no inclusive and coordinated approach to Bookstart. However South Australia has recently established a working group of public librarians to develop a proposal for a statewide program, which has been provided with $50,000 by the Libraries Board of SA to underpin the proposal. NSW has grant funded a few projects, as has Victoria under its Best start program (www.beststart.vic.gov.au) which aims to improve the health, development, well-being and learning of all Victorian children 0-8 years.

A matter of quality

One of the issues raised by several respondents to the survey and to the draft report is the absolute importance of ensuring that Bookstart kits contain high quality books. Only one of the respondents, Quorn in South Australia, identified which books were being supplied for reading to babies (Mem Fox's Time for bed or Koala Lou)

One respondent commented that there are

   ... some gorgeous looking $6.99 board books for
   babies. They are ghastly--impossible to read aloud
   and appallingly written, without any sense of rhythm
   or beauty. Cheap books will not solve the literacy
   problem, they'll only exacerbate it.

Bookstart programs which rely on such books for cost reasons, or which rely on publisher donations when publishers have such small profit margins, are almost self defeating, particularly when Australia itself now publishes outstanding children's books. However, from anecdotal feedback it is the case that some well intentioned local Bookstart program-particularly those not collaborating with their local public library or state public library system--are providing very poor quality board books in their kits. Rolton's Read to me remains a useful resource for selection, as does Fox's following list of 20 suggested titles for children 0-4.

* Ahlbert, Allan Each peach pear plum

* Allen, Pamela Who sank the boat?

* Bemelmans, Ludwig Madeline 

* Campbell, Rod Dear zoo 

* Carle, Eric The very hungry caterpillar 

* Dodd, Lynley Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy 

* Eastman, PD Are you my mother?

* Hill, Eric Where's spot?

* Hutchins, Pat Rosie's walk

* Jennings, Paul Rascal the dragon

* Machin, Sue I went walking

* Martin Jr, Bill Brown bear, brown bear

* Perkins, Al Hand handfinger thumb

* Sendak, Maurice Where the wild things are

* Dr Seuss Dr Seuss's ABC 

* Dr Seuss The foot book

* Dr Seuss Green eggs and ham

* Vaughan, Marcia K Wombat stew

* Waddell, Martin Owl babies

* Wagner, Jenny The bunyip of Berkeley's Creek

Potential partnerships

The achievement of a nationally comprehensive, inclusive, ongoing and evaluated Australian Bookstart faces the challenge of finding a way forward which involves all three tiers of Australian government, national, state/territory, and local, and possibly a national commercial sponsor. It is salutary that the UK Bookstart has surmounted not dissimilar difficulties during its 12 year development.

* national, because the education and literacy of the nation is identified internationally as Australian, not by its political parts

* national, because if an Australian citizen or resident is denied the most effective literacy development by a state or local jurisdiction as a child, it is ultimately the responsibility of the Australian government

* national, because illiteracy will ultimately be a significant cost to the individual and the whole of the Australian community given the mobility of the Australian population across state borders

* state or territory, because it is the states and territories of Australia which have immediate responsibility for welfare and the formal education of all children, Indigenous and non indigenous

* state or territory, because it is the states and territories of Australia which fund and support, in partnership with local government, those public libraries and health services without which a national implementation of Bookstart would be impossible

* local government, because it is close to the community and able to deliver targeted services

* local government, because generally it is the major funder and provider of local public libraries, as its most heavily used and valued community service.

Finding the way forward for a nationally equitable and inclusive Bookstart program is not a challenge to be underestimated, given that public library development in Australia itself is constrained by Australia's complex system of national, state and local government.

The realities are that Australian Bookstart requires the political interest and leadership of the national government, the policy framework of the state/territory governments, and the infrastructure and connections of local government.

How much would a national Bookstart program cost?

Based on the $25,000pa provided by the ACT Library Service, translated to the total Australian population of 20 million, the annual cost would be about $1.5 million. With allowance for administration, marketing and researched evaluation it is reasonable to conclude that a total cost of about $2 pa million would initially be needed. This is an extremely small national investment in view of the outstanding--from the 12 years of experience with UK Bookstart--return on investment.

This level of funding would need to be guaranteed for at least five years initially, to avoid the stop and start, potentially stigmatising partial coverage implementation, quality limitations and nonevaluation which has characterised local Bookstart initiatives in Australia.

Although the indicated funding is so small in national terms that it could be found by the federal government without difficulty, nonetheless there are opportunities for partnership between government and business. At least one of the large national supermarket chains is understood to have expressed interest in sponsoring a national program, but not individual state programs. A precedent for such a partnership exists in the form of the Nestle Write around Australia program. As North notes, this

   ... widely acknowledged as a model partnership
   between government and business, is fast approaching
   its tenth anniversary. Nestle Australia contributes
   around $1m each year to support visits by Australian
   authors to public libraries, prizes, travel and a media
   campaign associated with the program.
   Additionally this money pays for three librarians at the
   State Library of New South Wales to coordinate the
   program. At Nestle Australia--as well as in schools,
   government and in the community--there is wide
   recognition of the powerful role that the program plays
   in ensuring that children are provided with
   opportunities to develop their literacy skills during the
   critical years of primary school education, regardless
   of their economic circumstances or physical
   isolation. (18)

The Nestle Write around Australia program also provides a possible organisational precedent for Australian Bookstart, in its location within the infrastructure of a large state library, that of NSW. Location in a large library or a centralised state public library agency such as PLAIN in South Australia--for which tenders could be called---would arguably be preferable to its location within a government bureaucracy.

It may be contended that, given the various state/territory and local initiatives to promote the importance of books, and of parents and caregivers reading to children at an early age, Australian Bookstart is not really needed.

The counter to this is that it is clear that already those state/territory and local initiatives--commendable though they are--are generally noninclusive, patchy and subject to funding vagaries which will continue. From the survey response, there is considerable reinvention of thought and effort occurring around Australia, about which several of the respondents commented. Except in WA, there are also no mechanisms for formally evaluating them.

If the programs are not inclusive and nonstigmatising ie every baby in Australia receives a Bookstart kit by the age of seven months, they will not help address the cycle of parental low literacy and unawareness of the importance of reading to children. It is this which characterises the background of socially and educationally deprived children who may more readily develop as dysfunctional adults, at great cost to their own lives and to the Australian society which has neglected their potential.

The case is compelling--from published research over many years, from the UK Bookstart program and the US Born to read programs, the adoption of the former in Japan, and most recently its adoption in New Zealand and varying approaches in Australia that reading to babies and young children would unequivocally provide the best educational return on investment that Australia could make, and provide a base for a national literacy plan.

As leading British policy expert Dr Geoff Mulgan told a conference at the National Library of Australia 27 October 2004, education spending should be targeted at the home and governments must allocate more to 'early years, out of school activities and lifelong learning'.

   The social and economic payoffs on investment before
   the age of five are probably higher than anywhere else
   in the education system. However 'So many
   governments over so many years have ... carried on
   giving the vast bulk of the money to 19th century
   institutions--schools, universities and so on'. (19)

To avoid reinvention, poor quality kits, stop and start, noninclusive and nonevaluated approaches a national consultation towards a framework, action and investment in Australian Bookstart is required--and soon. The longer that it takes, the greater will be the ultimate cost to individuals, and for the nation in social dysfunctionality and remediation of adult illiteracy.

What form could a national Bookstart consultation take?

It is suggested that Public Libraries Australia (PLA) in association with the Council of Australian State Libraries (CASL) convene a one-two day national consultation in Canberra by mid 2005, with an action plan as its outcome. Invitees should include at least representatives of the

* Commonwealth Minister for Education, Science and Training

* Commonwealth Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts

* Commonwealth Minister for Health and Ageing 

* Parliamentary Secretary, Children and Youth Affairs

* Relevant state/territory Ministers

* National reading and literacy associations

* National child health associations

* Australian Local Government Association 

* Australian Library and Information Association 

* Australian Booksellers' Association

* Friends of Libraries Australia

* Potential charitable/commercial sponsors

                                 Population
                                   served

Australian Capital Territory      320,000
(affiliated with Bookstart UK)
Bega Valley NSW                    30,000
Darwin NT                          71,000
Gannawarra Vic                     12,500
Geelong Regional Vic              234,000
Lithgow NSW                        44,000
Merriden WA                         3,650
Moreland Vic (affiliated with     138,000
Bookstart UK)

Total population served           853,150

Libraries involved in a Bookstart program

AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

Name of library service   ACT Public Library. Population served 320,000
Provided for              1 year and continuing
Cost pa                   $25,000 pa
Paid for                  The library, via budget line (not subsidised
                          from elsewhere)
Kit contains              Board book, storytime information, parent
                          link guides, songs and activity book, library
                          membership information and form
Recipients                All new babies. Once joined library they have
                          special Bookstart membership status
Supplied                  Via nurses or GP at 4 month immunisations/or
                          if no immunisations then they can pick up
                          from public library
Age                       4 months
Percentage                100%
Comments                  Bookstart library members are sent
                          newsletters three times a year to coincide
                          with 'Rhyme time' sessions for parents and
                          their babies/toddlers. Newsletters include
                          recommended books for parents and toddlers.
                          Website has introductory information about
                          Bookstart and links to the UK program to
                          which we are affiliated
                          www.library.act.gov.au/locandhrs/bookstart.
                          htm/

NEW SOUTH WALES

Name of library service   Camden. Population served 43,945
Provided for              Launched in August 2004
Cost pa                   $11,000 approx
Paid for                  State Library of NSW grant $10,000 and Quota
                          Club Camden $1,000
Kit contains              1 cloth bag, 1 board book, 1 bib, pamphlets
                          and reading list, membership forms etc
Recipients                Consult with baby clinic
Supplied                  Given out at the 6 week visit at the baby
                          clinic
Age                       Approx 6 weeks
Percentage                We hope 80%
Comments                  This is a new service. We have consulted with
                          our local area health service and have come
                          to an arrangement where the kits will be
                          given out at the main area baby clinic at the
                          6 week visit

Name of library service   Central West. Population served 75,719
Provided for              Established in late 2002. Take time take ten
                          (T4) is a community based organisation whose
                          membership includes librarians, educators and
                          health professionals. While it is not a
                          specifically library project the public
                          library is a key player and contact point
Cost pa                   Approx $1,900
Paid for                  T4 is funded by a number of community
                          organisations including Rotary, Zonta and the
                          Children's Book Council of Australia. Central
                          West Branch; by grant funding from the Orange
                          Cabonne Community Development Support
                          Expenditure Scheme (CDSE); and by inkind
                          support from Orange City Council and the NSW
                          Department of Education and Training
Kit contains              A book for the child, information about T4,
                          guidelines on reading and a copy of Ten
                          minutes a day produced by Newcastle Region
                          Public library
Recipients                Every child born at Orange Base Hospital. As
                          the major hospital in the region many
                          children born there are from surrounding
                          towns and villages.
Supplied                  Delivered by hospital volunteers while still
                          in the hospital
Age                       Birth
Percentage                95%
Comments                  T4 also conducts outreach programs. In May
                          2004 we played host to children's writer and
                          literacy expert Mem Fox. Two seminars were
                          held during the day--one directed at parents
                          and carers and the other at educators,
                          librarians and children's services workers.
                          There was also a 'meet the author' dinner and
                          a book signing for the young and young at
                          heart. The day was funded by the CDSE.
                          Funding has also been received from the CDSE
                          to run workshops with parents and carers to
                          develop their storytelling skills.
                          T4's patron is Murray Cook--the 'red' Wiggle,
                          a former resident of Orange

Name of library service   Cowra. Population served c8,000
Provided for              2.5 years
Cost pa                   Approx $500
Paid for                  Friends of Cowra Library
Kit contains              A book, information on the importance of
                          literacy development
Recipients                Through the maternity staff at Cowra District
                          Hospital
Supplied                  At various stages of pregnancy and after
                          birth
Age                       Newborn
Percentage                100% (we hope)
Comments                  Thank you, you have spurred Friends of Cowra
                          Library to reassess their kit. We will now
                          include more Cowra Library information

Name of library service   Grenfell. Population served 3,550
Provided for              2 months
Cost pa                   Anticipate c$100
Paid for                  Friends of Grenfell Library
Kit contains              1 book for baby, 3 leaflets on fostering
                          literacy/numeracy, 2 library information
                          flyers, invitation to twice-a-year new
                          mothers library morning tea
Recipients                Cannot be identified to the library for
                          privacy reasons
Supplied                  Kits are given to early childhood nurses and
                          they give one to each baby in the Shire on
                          the first home visit
Percentage                100% target
Comments                  The Friends of the Library were planning the
                          initiative anyway but are also supporting the
                          WECARE (WEddin Community Are Readers
                          Everyday) program, a shire wide initiative to
                          promote literacy and the love of reading at
                          all ages, which was launched in March 2004.
                          The kits are funded from the Friends general
                          funds, accumulated through raffles, pre loved
                          book sales, catering efforts. Only the books
                          actually cost money. The packs are done up in
                          fancy paper with ribbon streamers and look
                          very attractive

Name of library service   Hurstville. Population served 132,000
Provided for              Began the Joey Tales program since May 2004
Cost pa                   Joey Tales is held within the library in the
                          children's section, which we can close off.
                          There is no cost to the parent
Paid for                  Hurstville Library
Kit contains              The program lasts for 20-30 minutes depending
                          on the audience. We always begin and end with
                          the same Joey Tales song and break up the
                          time with active fingerplays, songs, simple
                          stories, puppets, music, nursery rhymes etc.
                          We encourage parent participation with their
                          child. Each week has a theme and the content
                          reflects that. At the end each parent is
                          given a handout to take home with some of the
                          songs/nursery rhymes/fingerplays, a list of
                          good books for parents and recommended
                          reading for the babies and my name and number
                          should there be any questions. On the back is
                          a simple craft, a recipe for playdough, how
                          to choose an age related book etc. Books,
                          toys audio visual and parenting books are
                          then displayed and able to be borrowed. The
                          audiovisual and parenting books are then
                          displayed and able to be borrowed. The babies
                          usually then play on the big toy equipment in
                          the library whilst the parents chat
Recipients                Anyone is welcome who has a baby/child 0-3
                          years of age. Grandparents, carers, dads and
                          expecting mums are most welcome. We advertise
                          through the local playgroups and word of
                          mouth
Supplied                  Joey Tales is presented in the Children's
                          Library. The baby sits in the parents lap and
                          listen to stories and parents do fingerplays
                          with them
Age                       0-3 years
Comments                  The only problem raised by parents was other
                          children eating or playing with toys that
                          their child wants. We solved this by a simple
                          set of rules and no eating or bringing in non
                          essential toys was covered and respected by
                          all parents. Also not having enough music
                          (cassettes. CDs) for parents to teach their
                          child, traditional songs, nursery rhymes etc.
                          But after acquiring a grant of $2000 we
                          purchased more audio and board books specific
                          for this age. We also brought new puppets and
                          story props to keep the babies attention. All
                          parents are very keen for this program to
                          continue, and come along weekly (they wish
                          the program was longer)

Name of library service   Kempsey. Population served 27,000
Provided for              Approx 3 years
Paid for                  Done in conjunction with a Kempsey project
                          called Sow the seeds to read and it
                          administers it. We provide books, booklists,
                          enrolment forms etc. They get the bags and
                          put in the labour. Received a development
                          grant in 2003 which included about $500 worth
                          of little books to go into the bags
Kit contains              A baby's book, a pamphlet extolling the
                          virtues of reading, talking and singing to
                          your child, a booklist on parenting, library
                          enrolment form, a pamphlet about the Sow the
                          seeds to read project, a list of other
                          relevant resources in the Shire
Recipients                Given to the hospital and the baby health
                          care sister to hand out
Supplied                  As above
Age                       Birth
Percentage                All babies born in Kempsey
Comments                  We have other programs, for older children,
                          to encourage reading, so we hope that we will
                          catch them one way or another

Name of library service   Kiama. Population served c8,000
Provided for              Approx 6 years
Cost pa                   a) in its present form (as listed below) the
                          total cost of kits is between $3,000-$4,000
                          per annum--costing depends upon number of
                          kits produced which in turn depends on number
                          of babies born
                          b) cost without bibs would be between
                          $2,000-$3,000 per annum
Paid for                  Initial program was funded by a grant from
                          State Library of NSW. Some sponsorship funds
                          were also received from local service clubs
                          eg Rotary/Lions clubs
Kit contains              1 board book, 1 bib screen printed with our
                          Born to read logo, 1 congratulations card, 1
                          library leaflet, a storytime leaflet, 1 toy
                          library leaflet, 1 parenting bibliography, 1
                          early reading book list, 1 'reading and your
                          child' leaflet, 1 evaluation sheet
Recipients                Kits are distributed to all new babies who
                          present to the early childhood clinic at
                          Kiama Hospital. Kits are handed out on the
                          baby's first visit
Supplied                  As above
Age                       As above
Percentage                As above
Comments                  Our Born to read program is made up of two
                          parts. The first part of the program is the
                          baby kit which is distributed as above. The
                          second part is several parent information
                          sessions that are run in conjunction with
                          Kiama Community College. These parenting
                          sessions are generally run once a week for
                          four weeks. The last sessions we conducted
                          were entitled
                          * Importance of play
                          * Talking with your child--speech development
                            (session was conducted by a speech
                            therapist)
                          * Reading together
                          * Ready for school?
                          All sessions were supervised by a qualified
                          early childhood teacher.
                          During Children's Week, October 2004, Kiama
                          Library will launch a baby story time
                          program.
                          The program is aimed at non walking babies
                          (usually under 12 months of age) and their
                          parent/carer. Each storytime session will run
                          for about 20 minutes with the series being
                          conducted for four weeks. The group will be
                          limited to 10 babies with their adult carers.
                          It will be a time for finger plays, rhymes
                          and parent-child book sharing. This will be a
                          parent-child interaction--not a
                          librarian-child event. Baby storytime will
                          also provide a great opportunity to meet
                          other parents of young children, while
                          introducing baby to the library and literacy.
                          We will follow our first session with a
                          morning tea for parents.
                          At their first story time session each
                          parent/carer will be provided with handouts
                          of rhymes and songs used, a list of suitable
                          books they might like to borrow from the
                          library a 'tips on reading to your baby'
                          sheet and information on available parenting
                          material eg books, videos.
                          This will also be an opportunity to provide
                          carers with information about other services
                          available in the community

Name of library service   Lithgow Regional. Population served 44,000
Provided for              3+ years
Cost pa                   $1,500
Paid for                  Library budget, some sponsorship
Kit contains              Library bag, book, hints on reading, library
                          membership forms
Recipients                Every newborn
Supplied                  Local hospital maternity staff deliver
Age                       Birth
Percentage                95%
Comments                  Concept is slowly starting to filter through.
                          Highly recommend involving hospital to ensure
                          reading from birth and contact at all social
                          levels. Also include hints on how to read for
                          fun. Originally made kits available through
                          immunisation clinics but reading from birth
                          is best because some parents do not have
                          infants immunised

Name of library service   Mudgee. Population served 17,682
Provided for              Since mid 2004
Cost pa                   $70 each to put together
Paid for                  Fully funded out of the library/council
                          budget--they are free to borrow ($1 to
                          reserve a pack)
Kit contains              5 books and some pamphlet information on
                          literacy and reading to children which
                          parents borrow as a pack
Recipients                The different packs are targeted at different
                          age groups (0-12 months; 12-24 months) are
                          the books have been selected to appeal to
                          these age groups. It is based on the program
                          run out of the State Library of Tasmania. We
                          have 15 packs (3 of each age group) and when
                          they are returned they are restocked with the
                          literacy information
Comments                  They are all on loan at present and there is
                          very rarely one on the stand

Name of library service   Wollongong City. Population served 185,000
Provided for              Since May 2004, as a 10 week trial in the
                          central library to determine demand. There
                          was an overwhelming response to it so we have
                          now extended the program to the three
                          district libraries (Dapto, Corrimal and
                          Warrawong) in addition to the central
                          library. The programs are held weekly in the
                          libraries and limited to 10 months/carers and
                          babies. No older siblings are permitted due
                          to possible distraction of the babies. Due to
                          the demand, bookings are essential
Cost pa                   The initial cost was for the development of
                          the staff kits. There are 5 kits costing
                          approx $400, therefore total cost was $2,000.
                          Ongoing costs for promotion (flyers in the
                          participating library) and staffing costs,
                          provision of tea for the mothers after the
                          session--have not been determined at this
                          stage. Council, via our children's promotion
                          budget, funds this program.
Paid for                  The start up costs were funded from grant
                          monies
Kit contains              The kits which the staff use comprise toys
                          (suitable for 0 to 24 month old babies),
                          books--board books, vinyl, pop-ups, textured,
                          a rug for the babies and finger rhymes.
                          Separate kits are given to the mothers. They
                          contain the session outline and leaflets
                          outlining how to nurture a baby's love of
                          reading, finger rhymes and a library bookmark
                          with details of library opening hours,
                          location etc
Age                       0-24 months
Comments                  We have not yet measured the success of this
                          program on membership figures etc. However
                          anecdotal evidence suggests that the program
                          has stimulated a lot of interest from young
                          mothers, with the demand exceeding our
                          current capability to provide the program

QUEENSLAND

Name of library service   Broadsound Shire Council. Population served
                          9,600
Provided for              2 years
Cost pa                   An initial cost of $3,030.00. No ongoing
                          funding
Paid for                  Regional Arts Development Fund Grant
Kit contains              Board book, membership card, information
                          sheet, congratulations card, in library bag
Recipients                Through local medical centre, baby clinic,
                          word of mouth and visitors to the library
Supplied                  At the library
Age                       Newborns--2 year olds
Percentage                100%
Comments                  Will be holding regular 'Babes in arms'
                          sessions in the library commencing in the
                          near future to cater for babies and to
                          promote the library as an excellent venue for
                          babies

SOUTH AUSTRALIA

Name of library service   Adelaide Hills. Population served 38,778
Provided for              Ongoing (8 months since inception)
Cost pa                   Still assessing/using marketing budget
Paid for                  By library
Kit contains              Book, leaflet 10 minutes a day, reading
                          lists, library information, giveaways from
                          businesses when available, library bag
Recipients                Identify selves
Supplied                  Over library counter
Age                       Up to 3 months
Percentage                NA (120 plus in 8 months)
Comments                  Very positive reaction. Now recording
                          information so can send one year postcard and
                          updated reading lists.
                          * Difficult to reach community--have used
                            local newspaper, desk information, signage,
                            word of mouth
                          * Staff proactive in promoting
                          * Working with Angus & Robertson/local
                            bookshop re bulk purchases of books
                          * Friends of Library donate library bags

Name of library service   Clare and Gilbert Valleys. Population served
                          8,100
Comments                  We commenced the Babies love books program in
                          August 2004 in partnership with the Lower
                          North Community Health Service. It has
                          received funding to purchase the books and we
                          will supply the bags and some information.
                          Also perhaps a voucher to receive another
                          book once they have joined the baby at the
                          library. It is proposed that the midwives at
                          the hospital will give out the bags. This
                          will mean each baby born at the Clare
                          Hospital will receive a library bag, book,
                          literacy, pamphlets, bookmarks, vouchers etc.
                          We plan to commence a lapsit storytime and
                          parent information program in August as well.
                          Sessions will include 20 minute storytime and
                          10 minute parent education about books

Name of library service   Cummins School Community. Population served
                          c5,000
Provided for              13 1/2 years (started 9/9/90)
Cost pa                   $120 approx (volunteers are very astute
                          buyers taking advantage of specials)
Paid for                  Friends of the Library
Kit contains              Brochure on 'Importance of' and a book
Recipients                Keep in contact with hospital re new arrivals
                          (or those sent to Adelaide)
Supplied                  While in hospital volunteers visit new
                          mothers
Age                       First week
Percentage                100%
Comments                  When Reading magic by Mem Fox was published,
                          discussed distributing a copy to each family
                          with newborn child. Have not activated this
                          yet (costs are a problem) but will keep on
                          agenda

Name of library service   Keith School Community. Population served
                          2,335
Provided for              1 year
Cost pa                   $250 approx
Paid for                  By library
Kit contains              A book, leaflet 10 minutes a day, pencil,
                          borrower registration card for children to
                          fill out, leaflet on 'Story time', bookmark
                          with library information
Recipients                Local CATHS nurse gives to all parents of
                          newborn babies
Supplied                  At time of 6 weeks checkup or at the new
                          parents group meeting
Age                       Under 6 months if possible
Percentage                100%
Comments                  It would be great for government funding to
                          keep this type of program going

Name of library service   Quorn School Community. Population served
                          1,400
Provided for              Since 2003
Cost pa                   $30 per baby, 15-20 babies per year
Paid for                  School Community Library Board--Public
                          Libraries funding plus discount of 20% from
                          Meg's Bookshop in Pt Pirie
Kit contains              Letter explaining idea and congratulating the
                          parents; a 10 minutes a day brochure from
                          Newcastle Regional Library re early reading/
                          literacy; a library brochure; a copy of Mem
                          Fox's Reading magic for parents with
                          bookplate; a copy of Time for bed or Koala
                          Lou (Mem Fox books too) with bookplate;
                          wrapped and ribboned
Recipients                Local knowledge. Contact hospital staff
Supplied                  We give a pack to all Quorn families who have
                          a baby and all regional families who have a
                          child at the Quorn Hospital (we are proud to
                          have birthing facilities in such a relatively
                          small community).
                          We planned to give the packs at the hospital
                          but changed to inviting them to the library
                          as a family to receive it. This means some
                          come in who never have before, or not for a
                          long time. We send packs to outlying towns/
                          station families if we miss them while they
                          are here. We ask if we can take and display a
                          photo on our 'welcome' board. Most are happy
                          to oblige with brothers and sisters and a few
                          parents in there too
Age                       During first 3-4 months
Percentage                100%
Comments                  Has meant we see more of some families than
                          we usually would once 'the ice has broken' on
                          the first visit. Most parents are absolutely
                          delighted and surprised. Our regular library
                          volunteer (also secretary of Library Board)
                          is thrilled to be part of the production/
                          giving procedures. Library Board unanimously
                          voted to continue it this year after a trial
                          last year for 2003@your library campaign

TASMANIA

Name of library service   State Library of Tasmania. Population served
                          459,659
Comments                  The State Library of Tasmania's program is a
                          lending service commenced in 2003. There are
                          currently about 100 Baby Book Packs available
                          for each of three age groups and they can be
                          reserved and sent free of charge for
                          collection at any of the State Library's 48
                          service points.
                          The loan period is 3 weeks.
                          The program has been publicised through all
                          child health and childcare centres in
                          Tasmania and is proving very popular. More
                          packs are being developed so that every
                          library will have some in the permanent
                          collection.
                          The Baby Book Packs are part of the State
                          Library's Babies who read, succeed program.
                          More information is at
                          www.statelibrary.tas.gov.au/services/
                          babybookpacks.htm

VICTORIA

Name of library service   Eastern Regional. Population served 388,263
Provided for              Commenced in September 2004 as the Read with
                          me project
                          www.erl.vic.gov.au/whatson/read.htm
Cost pa                   Not sure yet
Paid for                  We have a local government grant to initiate
                          program
Kit contains              Board book and information for parents on
                          reading and library services
Recipients                Newborns via maternal and child health
                          centres
Supplied                  Via MCH nurses, our lapsit programs and talks
                          to new mothers
Age                       About 4 months
Comments                  Some years ago I was involved in a committee
                          of Victorian public library children's
                          librarians which endeavoured to get a similar
                          program funded statewide. It failed; now we
                          are all reinventing the work involved, in our
                          individual library services. A far more
                          effective and high profile method would be to
                          have a state or Australia wide program
                          properly funded and supported by
                          government/s. The UK and US experience has
                          shown these programs to be an effective way
                          of alerting parents to the importance of
                          reading and libraries

Name of library service   Goulburn Valley Regional. Population served
                          92,170
Provided for              Late 2004
Cost pa                   Unsure at this stage, depends what is
                          included
Paid for                  Best Start government grant
Kit contains              Place mat; books and baby brochure; parenting
                          magazine; board book; council and library
                          information; community services directory
Recipients                All children born in City of Greater
                          Shepparton
Supplied                  3-4 month visit to MCH; intend to hand
                          deliver or post to those families who do not
                          attend MCH
Age                       3-4 months
Percentage                Aiming for 100%
Comments                  The City of Greater Shepparton (1 of 3
                          library municipalities) is a project site for
                          Best Start (www.beststart.vic.gov.au) which
                          has provided a great opportunity for
                          collaboration between the library and Best
                          Start to deliver a baby book bag, and other
                          activities.
                          We have sponsorship from a publisher who is
                          supplying our first year's supply of 800
                          board books

Name of library service   Moreland. Population served 138,000
Provided for              The Moreland Bookstart kit program, launched
                          in August 2000, has had outstanding success
                          in encouraging parents to read to babies with
                          more than 6,000 kits already distributed. The
                          program is modelled on a UK scheme
Kit contains              A board book, booklets giving advice on
                          developing children's reading skills from an
                          early age and recommended board books for
                          babies, as well as information on parenting
                          resources all packaged in a calico library
                          bag. The 16 page booklet contained in the
                          kit, Reading is forever: how to develop your
                          child's reading skills and have fun together
                          published by the library and using
                          photographs depicting Moreland's
                          multicultural mix of families, is also
                          available free to all Moreland residents,
                          schools and centres. Where possible, a
                          bilingual board book is provided for LOTE
                          speakers. A leaflet on reading to children
                          produced and translated into ten different
                          languages by the Free Kindergarten
                          Association (FKA) Multicultural Resource
                          Centre, is also included where appropriate in
                          the Kit
Recipients                The kit is distributed to every newborn
                          Moreland baby in cooperation with the
                          maternal and child health nurses. The
                          distribution is followed up by talks by
                          library staff to new parent groups at the
                          maternal and child health centres on reading
                          to babies and children
Comments                  In order to reinforce the reading message in
                          the Bookstart kits, Moreland's library
                          service provides rhyme time sessions for
                          babies under 18 months every week at the
                          Coburg Library and every month at Moreland's
                          other four service points. The 30 minute
                          sessions consist of stories, nursery rhymes,
                          finger rhymes and songs. They have proved to
                          be very popular with parents and babies,
                          particularly as many first time parents have
                          forgotten the nursery rhymes from their
                          childhood. After the sessions, library staff
                          are available to provide advice on reading to
                          babies.
                          The rhyme times sessions have been very
                          successful not only for their content but in
                          also providing the opportunity for parents to
                          engage socially with other parents. Informal
                          support networks have emerged among parents
                          and groups of them are frequently seen having
                          coffee together at nearby cafes after rhyme
                          times. Given the social isolation often
                          encountered by first time parents, the rhyme
                          time sessions play a valuable social role in
                          connecting people and fostering wellbeing.
                          An evaluation survey was undertaken of
                          parents who had received a Bookstart kit up
                          to March 2001. Results from the 300
                          respondents found that 35 per cent of parents
                          began to read to their babies for the first
                          time as a result of the kit while 60 per cent
                          began reading to their babies more often.
                          General feedback from parents was very
                          positive with many praising the concept and
                          providing useful advice for the future
                          development of the program. Given the UK
                          research and Moreland's own experiences with
                          the Bookstart program, there seems no better
                          project to give children a good start to
                          education and life skills

Name of library service   Wimmera Regional. Population served 52,081
Provided for              3 1/2 years
Cost pa                   $6,000
Paid for                  First two years received sponsorship which
                          covered bag and book. Library covered rest of
                          costs
Kit contains              Cloth bag, board book, membership form,
                          nursery rhyme booklet, reading advice
                          booklets, library promotional material,
                          sponsor promotional material, growth chart
Recipients                All new babies born in region identified via
                          maternal health nurses
Supplied                  Maternal health nurses distribute the kits
Age                       Birth--1 year
Percentage                100% to start--currently only first babies
Comments                  General feedback indicates that everyone who
                          received the bag thinks they are a great idea
                          and appreciate them. The maternal health
                          nurses are very supportive, but it has not
                          yet translated into more babies attending the
                          library.
                          Sponsorship covered bag and book cost for
                          first two years and we had sufficient bags to
                          last into third year. In 2004 we have
                          produced a minimal number of bags with no
                          board book and using our general plastic
                          promotional bags to try and continue the
                          program and contain cost. We are
                          investigating how to continue the program,
                          and ways to get the new parents and babies
                          into the library as early as possible

WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Name of library service   Bridgetown-Greenbushes. Population served
                          3,935
Provided for              1 year
Cost pa                   $100
Paid for                  By library
Kit contains              Calico library bag; board book and pamphlets;
                          membership form
Recipients                From child health centre
Supplied                  At an afternoon tea in the library and talk
                          by librarian, child nurse and speech
                          pathologist
Age                       7 months
Percentage                10%

Name of library service   Broome. Population served 13,500
Provided for              Commenced 2004
Cost pa                   $8721.50--includes staff time
Paid for                  Grant from Office of Multicultural interests
Kit contains              Library bag, brochures for library services,
                          board book, brochures for other common
                          services
Recipients                All babies born at Broome Hospital
Supplied                  Personal presentation
Age                       Newborn
Percentage                100%
Comments                  This will be an initiative we will be looking
                          at continuing longterm. It comes with tagged
                          information on the library database and
                          community interconnectivity shown through
                          greater participation in other library
                          programs

Name of library service   Capel. Population served 8,500
Provided for              2 1/2 years
Cost pa                   Nil directly. Covered by staff time and local
                          health service
Paid for                  Indirectly Shire of Capel, local health
                          service and sponsors
Kit contains              Board book, information about literacy
                          services, speech and language development,
                          local toy library, services provided by local
                          health service to parents and carers
Recipients                Child health nurses forward names/addresses
                          of people who attend 7-9 month checks (with
                          their permission)
Supplied                  At information session held in library
Age                       7-9 months
Comments                  Funding is always a problem although local
                          businesses do sponsor book purchases or
                          donate suitable calico bags. It is stressful
                          as we never know whether the scheme can
                          continue

Name of library service   Collie. Population served 8,500
Provided for              5 years
Cost pa                   $200
Paid for                  Shire/grants
Kit contains              Board book, library brochure, toy library
                          flyer, storytime flyer, reading/literacy
                          brochures, speech development information
Recipients                Local infant health clinic
Supplied                  Information session at the library by
                          invitation
Age                       9 months
Percentage                50%+
Comments                  Strong bonds seem to form at mothers groups/
                          playgroups, and storytime competes with these
                          groups for attendance.
                          I would like to form a network with other
                          interested parties (I currently only work
                          with the speech pathologist and the infant
                          health nurse) to include playgroup
                          representatives, pre primary representatives,
                          others in the primary health field for follow
                          up sessions after Bookstart

Name of library service   Derby/West Kimberley. Population served 8,500
Barriers                  Funding. We have done a few sessions paid out
                          of our budget in preparation for setting up
                          the program and have been getting a committee
                          together. We are now ready to apply for a
                          grant to maintain the program
Cost pa                   Estimated cost will be $3,000
Kit contains              Board book, Better beginning pamphlet,
                          library pamphlet
Supplied                  Through local child health nurses and morning
                          tea at health centre or night time sessions
                          at library or session with young mothers
                          group
Age                       Varies--usually in the first year

Name of library service   Geraldton Regional. Population served 30,770
Provided for              1 1/2 years
Cost pa                   $2,000 approx
Paid for                  Friends of Library, donations from Mayor,
                          library budget, DLD grant
Kit contains              Book for baby, brochures about literacy and
                          the library
Recipients                Antenatal classes
Supplied                  Visit the library by personal invitation
Age                       3 months approx
Percentage                20%
Comments                  I would like to present the program more
                          widely than just these mothers. Currently
                          attending antenatal classes at the private
                          hospital. The government hospital is not
                          willing to participate in the program. We
                          need to find another way to make contact with
                          the parents we currently do not reach

Name of library service   Katanning. Population served 4,950
Cost                      $10 per child per year
Paid for                  Shire and community funding
Kit contains              Book, resource manual
Supplied                  At birth from child health nurse
Age                       Birth
Percentage                100%
Comments                  Run by Smart start

Name of library service   Mandurah. Population served 51,300
Provided for              Since March 2004, ongoing
Cost pa                   Under review. $3,500 for board books, staff
                          time to prepare bags and do workshops
Paid for                  Local government and grant funding
Kit contains              Baby book, library leaflet, growth chart,
                          library membership form, other related
                          leaflets
Recipients                Through pool health campus nurses
Supplied                  Via health nurse
Age                       6-8 weeks
Percentage                Approx 97%
Comments                  Sue North, State Library of WA, is
                          conducting/overseeing the WA Better
                          beginnings program. Currently in 6 pilot
                          areas in WA. Edith Cowan University is doing
                          a 5 year evaluation of the impact this
                          project has on childhood literacy

Name of library service   Manjimup. Population served 5,000
Provided for              6 months
Cost pa                   $1000
Paid for                  Shire of Manjimup from promotions budget
Kit contains              Board book, library bag and information
                          pamphlets
Recipients                Through the child health nurse
Supplied                  At an afternoon tea in the library
Age                       Under 12 months
Percentage                80% aiming for 100%
Comments                  We are planning for more Bookstart events and
                          the library is involved in a plan to extend
                          the program so that parents and children
                          under four years are provided with more
                          resources and information. The aim is to
                          provide informal gatherings to introduce
                          families to all the services available to
                          them and to have a mentoring system to keep
                          in touch. There is a program called Smart
                          start already operating in WA which we would
                          like to emulate. Funding is to be finalised;
                          we have had contributions from Rotary and the
                          Early Years Strategy Office of WA state
                          government

Name of library service   Nyabing. Population served 600
Provided for              2 years
Cost pa                   $116.51
Paid for                  By Shire of Kent
Kit contains              Books, puppets, games, toys
Recipients                If they are a library or Smart start member
Supplied                  President of the group distributes one item
Age                       6, 12 months then every year to 3 years of
                          age
Percentage                80%

Name of library service   Stirling. Population served 176,000
Provided for              3 1/2 years
Cost pa                   $2,500
Paid for                  By Council
Kit contains              Book for the baby, book for parents,
                          bookmark, information about reading to
                          babies, brochure about library services
Recipients                Parents who come in with babies are
                          encouraged to join. We also run a parents
                          session for people to come to and babies join
                          from there
Supplied                  When they join the baby at the library
Age                       0-12 months
Percentage                Do not know total number born in area
Comments                  * Let's take advantage of the political
                            climate and make it national using WA's
                            Better beginnings program as a template
                          * New parents are very receptive to the
                            information. It has been a good PR exercise
                          * In addition we run 'Hug a book parents
                            sessions' with a speech pathologist talking
                            about language development and the
                            librarian talking about reading to babies.
                            We join 50-60 babies each year this way

* Bookstart is the usage by the UK program to deliver free book kits or packs to babies to encourage parents and caregivers to read to them. Broadly synonymous are Books for babies, Read with me; Babies who read, succeed; Sow the seeds to read," and Born to read

References

(1) See Australian and New Zealand Institute for Information Literacy http://www.anziil.org/index.htm

(2) Casterton, G Adult learning Australia commentary 20 2001

(3) Butler, D Babies need books 2nd edition London, Penguin 1988

(4) Spreadbury, J Read me a story: parents, teachers and children as partners in literacy learning Melbourne, Australian Reading Association 1994 p 16

(5) Rolton, G Read to me. a practical guide to sharing books with your child in the vital preschool years Melbourne, ACER 2001 pl04 Fox, M Reading magic: how your child can learn to read before school and other read aloud miracles Sydney, Pan Macmillan 2001

(7) www.ala.org

(8) archive.ala.org/alsc/born.html

(9) www.bookstart.org.uk

(10) Booktouch www.bookstart.co.uk/booktouch/index.html

(11) Moore, M and Wade, B Bookstart: a qualitative evaluation Educational review 55(1) 2003 pp11-12

(12) Rohl, M et al Evaluating better beginnings." a family literacy program in Australia Paper presented at the CECDE international conference, Dublin July 2004 available [e-mail]

(13) Panozzo, G Read all about it: the Moreland reading project and the UK national reading campaigns Australasian public libraries and information services 15(2) June 2002 pp52-60

(14) Bundy, A & J eds Directory of Australian public libraries 6th edition Adelaide, Auslib Press 2003

(15) Australian library news 9 September 2004

(16) McClelland, N Building a literate nation: the key role of public libraries Australasian public libraries and information services 16(2) June 2003 pp56-65

(17) North, S Catching them in the cradle: family literacy programs Australasian public libraries and information services 16 (2) June 2003 pp66-71

(18) ibid

(19) The Australian 28 October 2004 p5

This first Friends of Libraries Australia (Fola) report to the nation was launched by Fola president Peter McInnes at the 10th anniversary celebration of the establishment of Friends of Libraries Australia, a celebration held in the National Library of Australia 3 December 2004. It is made freely available in print or electronically to Fola members, and other interested parties and is accessible on the Fola website www.fola.org.au. Feedback to Fola about the report through its author is also encouraged [e-mail] or PO Box 622 Blackwood SA 5051 fax [phone].

Dr Alan Bundy BA DipEd MLitt MLib PhD FALIA is university librarian of the University of South Australia and founder and editorial director of Auslib Press, Australasia's largest publisher of library and information science. He has consulted and published widely, and has edited the quarterly journal Australasian public libraries and information services since 1988. In 1988, and again in 2002, Dr Bundy was national president of the Australian Library and Information Association. He is vice president/president elect of Friends of Libraries Australia. His professional interests include information literacy, public libraries, joint use libraries and publishing