Literacy news
Head Start - The Social Impact of Boots Book for Babies
6 Jun 2008
Introduction
The Boots Books for Babies scheme, in the five years since its inception in 1998, has delivered 42,791 bags of books and literacy related materials to babies in the City of Nottingham and County of Nottinghamshire. The project is a public-private partnership between the Library Services of Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottingham City Council, the county's Health Trusts and The Boots Company. The packs are delivered by Health Visitors and the scheme is hosted by local libraries. The principle aim of the Boots Books for Babies scheme is to develop a love of books in young children and encourage a lifetime of reading by encouraging parents to share books with their children from nine months onwards. Additional aims include highlighting the benefits of early learning; encouraging library use and raising literacy levels of both children and adults. It was also anticipated that the scheme would contribute to cross-sector objectives relating to life-long learning, neighbourhood renewal and social cohesion.
Research Objectives
The aim of the research was to evaluate the social impact of the Boots Books for Babies scheme in relation to the specific project aims as expressed by the City and County Councils, the Library and Health Services and the Sponsor. The significant quantitative outputs of Boots Books for Babies are already known – over 90% of all babies born within the City of Nottingham and County of Nottinghamshire have received a Boots Books for Babies pack over the last five years and there has been a significant increase in library membership and usage by babies and young children. The impact and value of early reading has been comprehensively established already through prior evaluation, both of this scheme and of Bookstart, so while this has been considered in this research, it was not central to the evaluation. The primary objective of this research was therefore to explore the wider social impact of the scheme, to establish what difference Boots Books for Babies has really made to people's lives, to children and parents as individuals, as families and as communities.
(Extracted from Head Start - The Social Impact of Books for Babies)
For more information and to download the full report visit
www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/home/.
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