By Austin Rust-

In a special community segment which aired last Friday, Nov. 22 on C103 Radio, it was announced that Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library program is set to begin soon in Adams County. This was made possible through a partnership between Leadership Adams, the Adams County Public Libraries, and the Adams County Board of Developmental Disabilities, together with the Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library, an initiative to promote early literacy in Ohio.
According to their website, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is “a book-gifting program that mails free books to children from birth to age five in participating communities within the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Republic of Ireland.” Dolly Parton was inspired to create this program by her father’s inability to read or write. It began in 1995, providing books to children within her home county; today, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library mails more than a million free books each month to children around the world, with 127,948,148 mailed so far.
“When I was growing up in the hills of East Tennessee, I knew my dreams would come true. I know there are children in your community with their own dreams. They dream of becoming a doctor or an inventor or a minister. Who knows, maybe there is a little girl whose dream is to be a writer and singer. The seeds of these dreams are often found in books, and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world,” a statement from Parton read.
The news of this program coming to Adams County was announced by Adams County Public Libraries Director Nicholas Slone, who was joined in the radio studio by Adams County Board of Developmental Disabilities Superintendent Liz Lafferty. Together, they explained that at first, their organizations had been considering the idea separately. When this was realized, the two groups decided to join forces through Leadership Adams, and their proposal to the Ohio Governor’s Office was quickly approved. Half of this program’s cost will be paid for as part of the Ohio Governor’s Imagination Library initiative, funded by the state budget, and the rest will come through Leadership Adams, Adams County Public Libraries, and the Adams County Board of Developmental Disabilities.
When this program becomes available, parents will be able to enroll their children in it via the Adams County Public Libraries website (adamscolibrary.org) or by paper registration form. In the coming weeks, information will be posted in all major media outlets to let parents know to watch out for the start of enrollment, which is expected to begin by early January at the latest.
“If we do our jobs right, the parents won’t be able to miss those opportunities to sign on,” said Director Slone. “It’ll be announced on social media, in the newspaper, and by radio, and we’ll be getting out to any and all of the community events that we can to provide paper sign-up forms.”
“Studies have shown time and time again that the earlier children get access to reading materials, and the better their literacy skills, the more success they’ll have later on in life,” Slone noted.
In the meantime, he explained, there are story times for children every week at each of the Adams County Public Library locations. Each library is equipped with a Children’s Corner, too, where visitors are encouraged to wind down and read with their children, or let them play.
“Technology is big these days,” said Slone. “We do tech training, and we offer computers. We do all of that, but for kids, especially under the age of 12, it’s been shown that screen time can actually hurt them a little bit, if it’s not tempered with a little bit of non-screen time.”
“Stress levels plummet when you read,” he added. “There are just so many benefits to reading, and we want to encourage children to read, and not just get lost in a screen. What I love about this Imagination Library opportunity is that there are so many kids who are not able to get in, that can’t come to libraries on a regular basis, but with this, the books will come to them.”
“We’re hoping to inspire lifelong readers,” Slone concluded. “Certainly, if they get done with their book that month, instead of waiting until the next month, we hope that they can come to the library, and we can get them an infinite number of books – an infinite number of worlds they can visit to expand their imagination. This is a great opportunity to reach them.”