Working on this project gave me the chance to reflect on how to best serve the youngest patrons at public libraries. I was already familiar with storytimes for children as young as a few months, but I had not considered other library programs that could be offered to serve infants. When looking into resources for designing programs I found quite a bit of information describing programs for children in preschool and up, but there was not as much information about serving babies. This is an area I would like to explore in more depth.

The goal of this website was to design 12 months worth of programs for children ages 0-8 years and trainings for caregivers and staff. These goals were accomplished. In addition to regularly occurring storytimes I described programs for each month. The programs mainly serve three age ranges that can all benefit from early literacy practices, babies (0-2 years), preschoolers (3-5 years), and early elementary (5-8 years). The trainings for caregivers also provide opportunities to learn about the different age groups, as well as a training on early literacy practices that is applicable to all three age ranges. The trainings for library staff were a mix that included early literacy practices as well as trainings that would help staff gain a better understanding of the needs of children and their families.

While doing research for this site it reinforced the importance of the early literacy practices and involving families. I had heard of the practices of talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing, but I had not thought about how to actively incorporate these into programs offered at the library. Although these practices are already present in many library programs, it takes effort to purposefully include them in most programs. This effort is well worth it since in the long run it sets children up for success in the future as they learn to read. The research consistently discussed the value of not only having caregivers attend programs, but actively engaging them and providing them with tips to extend the learning to their homes. In regards to involving families I learned not just how to include families, but also how to educate and empower them to help their children learn.

After completing  this project I feel prepared to plan programming for young children in a public library. Additionally, I will be able to explain the importance of programming to help develop early literacy skills and what elements in a program help support those skills.