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A library tradition is being refashioned to
emphasize early literacy and better prepare young
children for school, and drawing many new fans in
the process.
Among parents of the under-5 set, spots
for story time have become as coveted as seats for
a hot Broadway show like “Hamilton.” Lines stretch
down the block at some branches, with tickets given
out on a first-come-first-served basis because there
is not enough room to accommodate all of the
children who show up.
Workers at the 67th Street Library on the
Upper East Side of Manhattan turn away at least 10
people from every reading. They have been so
overwhelmed by the rush at story time — held in the
branch’s largest room, on the third floor — that once
the space is full, they close the door and shut down
the elevator. “It is so crowded and so popular, it’s
insane,” Jacqueline Schector, a librarian, said.
Story time is drawing capacity crowds at
public libraries across New York and across the
country at a time when, more than ever, educators
are emphasizing the importance of early literacy in
preparing children for school and for developing
critical thinking skills. The demand crosses economic
lines, with parents at all income levels vying to get
in.
Many libraries have refashioned the
traditional readings to include enrichment activities
such as counting numbers and naming colors, as
well as music and dance. And many parents have
made story time a fixture in their family routines
alongside school pickups and playground outings —
and, for those who employ nannies, a nonnegotiable
requirement of the job.
In New York, demand for story time has
surged across the city’s three library systems — the
New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library,
and the Queens Library — and has posed logistical
challenges for some branches, particularly those in
small or cramped buildings. Citywide, story time
attendance rose to 510,367 people in fiscal year
2015, up nearly 28 percent from 399,751 in fiscal
2013.
“The secret’s out,” said Lucy Yates, 44, an
opera coach with two sons who goes to story time at
the Fort Washington Library every week.
Stroller-pushing parents and nannies begin
to line up for story time outside some branches an
hour before doors open. To prevent overcrowding,
tickets are given out at the New Amsterdam and
Webster branches, both in Manhattan, the
Parkchester branch in the Bronx, and a half-dozen
branches in Brooklyn, including in Park Slope,
Kensington and Bay Ridge.
The 67th Street branch keeps adding story
times — there are now six a week — and holds
sessions outdoors in the summer, when crowds can
swell to 200 people.
In Queens, 41 library branches are scheduled to add weekend hours this month, and
many will undoubtedly include weekend story times.
As Joanne King, a spokeswoman for the library
explained, parents have been begging for them and
“every story time is full, every time we have one.”
Long a library staple, story time has
typically been an informal reading to a small group
of boys and girls sitting in a circle. Today’s story
times involve carefully planned lessons by specially
trained librarians that emphasize education as much
as entertainment, and often include suggestions for
parents and caregivers about how to reinforce what
children have learned, library officials said.
Libraries around the country have
expanded story time and other children’s programs
in recent years, attracting a new generation of
patrons in an age when online offerings sometimes
make trips to the book stacks unnecessary. Sari
Feldman, president of the American Library
Association, said such early-literacy efforts are part
of a larger transformation libraries are undergoing to
become active learning centers for their
communities by offering services like classes in
English as a second language, computer skills and
career counseling.
Ms. Feldman said the increased demand for
story time was a product, in part, of more than a
decade of work by the library association and others
to encourage libraries to play a larger role in
preparing young children for school. In 2004, as
part of that effort, the association developed a
curriculum, “Every Child Ready to Read,” that she
said is now used by thousands of libraries.
The New York Public Library is adding 45
children’s librarians to support story time and other
programs, some of which are run in partnership with
the city government. It has also designated 20 of its
88 neighborhood branches, including the Fort
Washington Library, as “enhanced literary sites.” As
such, they will double their story time sessions, to
an average of four a week, and distribute 15,000
“family literacy kits” that include a book and a
schedule of story times.
“It is clear that reading and being exposed
to books early in life are critical factors in student
success,” Anthony W. Marx, president of the New
York Public Library, said. “The library is playing an
increasingly important role in strengthening early
literacy in this city, expanding efforts to bring
reading to children and their families through
quality, free story times, curated literacy programs,
after-school programs and more.”
For its part, the Queens Library plans to
expand a “Kick Off to Kindergarten” program that
attracted more than 180 families for a series of
workshops last year. Library officials said that more
than three-quarters of the children who enrolled,
many of whom spoke a language other than English
at home, developed measurable classroom skills.
From: www.nytimes.com/2015/11/02
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