Beyond the Book
DC Public Library
Education - Children & Adults
| 2023
Innovation Synopsis
Beyond the Book is DCPL’s initiative to support families and library professionals through the journey of a child learning to read by providing professional development on the science of reading, funding for library collections to increase resources that help with decoding and reading motivation, and featured books for home libraries.
Challenge/Opportunity
Since 2016 DCPL has administered the DC book distribution program Books from Birth that mails a book a month to a child's home until they are five. Over 30,000 children participate. To engage families of children who "age out," in 2022 the library aimed to bridge the home program to the library to develop library users and support the next step of reading independence.
Key Elements of Innovation
- Three-prong approach to engagement: materials that focus on decoding and reading motivation, collateral that engages families around a featured book, and professional development for staff.
- Activity guides for each featured book include both extension activities, additional resources, and entities that support literacy.
Achieved Outcomes
- 2,080 families registered for the program in the first calendar year.
- Featured book graphics have been installed at four branches with plans for a fifth this summer.
- Connection to summer programming is built in to the featured title.
- 8,800 featured books distributed.
- 6,800 activity guides distributed.
- Children in transitional housing received specialized reading kits in backpacks.
