Nancy Young: Babies and books
Libraries provide vital access to books and learning for our youngest citizens
Each year approximately 3,000 babies are born in Ocala/Marion County.
All young children ages birth to 6 need public library programs and resources — they need to be surrounded with books, hear thousands of words and be engaged in conversations and play.
Why? Because all children deserve to have an opportunity to grow and develop to full their potential. Currently, one out of three children entering kindergarten in Marion County cannot pass the entrance test. They struggle to identify letters, numbers, colors and shapes and their word knowledge is very limited.
Our Marion County Public Library System promotes early literacy development through its programs, resources and physical spaces for young children called Tot Spots. The library staff is trained in early childhood literacy development as well.
Research shows that books and library resources have a positive effect on early literacy development and reading achievement. The positive impact of access to books is as large as the negative impact of poverty as reported in the 2011 New England Reading Association Journal.
The number of words a child knows before kindergarten is an important factor in predicting school success. Economic income — and one in three children in our community live in poverty — influences the number of words a child learns. Too many of our babies have no books in their homes.
The public library is the only public service where parents can go for FREE and have books, programs and other resources available to them and their children. Libraries help close the word and reading gap for children between children from high- and low-income families. Research has proven that public libraries play a major role in helping children with early literacy skills through their story times for babies, toddlers and preschoolers.
The Marion County Board of County Commissioners held their first public hearing on the proposed county budget Thursday night. It heard testimony from library supporters asking they not cut the library system’s budget any further. The Marion County Public Library System’s book budget that supplies board books, picture books, music and the database Tumblebooks that reads books to young children via computer, smart phones, and tablets is in peril. It has not been funded. How can we not provide a full book budget so that our youngest children throughout this county can have a collection of books and resources available to them?
If we are to build a workforce in Ocala/Marion County that will attract businesses here, then we need to begin with our babies and make certain they are surrounded with books and have a well-stocked public library for our youngest citizens.
- Nancy Young is a retired elementary school principal, an active library volunteer and a board member of the Friends of the Ocala Public Library.