By now, everyone is aware of the passing of music and humanitarian icon Dolly Parton. While most people know her as an entertainer, her legacy in developing early readers is equally as important.
The Colchester District Library is the central hub for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library (DPIL) in McDonough County. Locally to date, more than 550 county children have been enrolled.
Worldwide, over three million children have been registered and over 332 million books have been delivered since the inception of the program in 1995.
Colchester Library Director Debbie Sullivan recently traveled to Springfield to attend the Illinois State Fair, where a booth in the Emmerson Building had been prepared by the Illinois leadership (overseers of the many Imagination Library chapters in Illinois) to promote the program and to encourage McDonough County parents to enroll their children. Sullivan has also visited local organizations, including the McDonough District Hospital's obstetrics department, to inform them of the opportunity for young children to be gifted books. On her visits, she often carries with her the life-size Dolly Parton promotional cutout to highlight the program.
According to the Imagination Library's website, 'the program is dedicated to inspiring a love of reading by gifting books free of charge to children from birth to age five through funding by Dolly Parton and local community partners in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Republic of Ireland.' The Imagination Library organization informed local providers that Dolly's dream would continue.
'We have prepared for this day and for the future of the Imagination Library,' said Dollywood Foundation President Jeff Conyers. 'Dolly didn't build the Imagination Library to last for her lifetime. She built it to last for the children's lifetimes.'
Each month, from birth to their fifth birthday, registered children in McDonough County receive a free, age-appropriate book. The organization's selection committee determines the titles to be distributed to each age group through a process that begins six months before delivery. Rather than storing large quantities of books, DPIL determines the number of eligible children needing books, orders their printing from Penguin Books in New York, and then ships them from New York to their bulk mailing distribution point in Knoxville, TN, to arrive on the first of each month via the U.S. Postal Service.
Children can be registered through their local program 'Champion'—in this case the Colchester District Library—by visiting the library's website at colchesterlibrary.com or at imaginationlibrary.com. They can also register in person at the library.
For those interested in contributing to the program, consult the DPIL website mentioned above to read Dolly's obituary and log-in to the site for directions. What greater gift can parents give their children than for them to receive up to 60 free books to help grow their reading abilities.
