Early Learning at the Small and Rural Library

Foundation for Early Learning is delighted to feature a guest blog post from Whitney Edwards, a librarian at Libraries of Stevens County, a member of the Early Learning Public Library Partnership. If you are interested in being featured in the Foundation's blog, please contact Joel Ballezza, Communications Manager at joel@earlylearning.org.

There are wonderful perks to raising a child in a small and rural town (great local food and mountains out your back door!), but there are also some challenges, especially in the realm of early learning. Thankfully, the public library can help fill the early learning gap. 

Stevens County, in northeast Washington State, is twice the size of Rhode Island and has a population of only 42,000. The largest town, Colville, has a population of just 5,000. This rural county often struggles with the challenges of distance (only 9.5% of the population lives within incorporated city limits) and the scarcity of living-wage jobs. 14.5% of Stevens County is unemployed, well above the national average, and 15.9% of the population falls below the poverty line.

Also alarming is how few early learning programs there are in the county. There are often not enough spots at the local Headstart programs for kids that qualify as low income, let alone additional children. There are few other preschools to choose from and most are part-time. Preschool teachers are often unable to travel to costly early literacy trainings in Spokane or further away. And with no public transportation system and some people living as much as 50 miles from the nearest town, many families cannot afford to take their child to preschool at all. 

But this is where public libraries are in a unique position to serve. Libraries bring early learning to the child and caregiver.

In Stevens County, the library is one of the only county-wide institutions. With nine branches and an online presence, the library provides the community access to books. It may seem obvious, but this access is key to early learning. When money is tight, books are a luxury that many families cannot afford without the library.

Because getting books into a child's hands is important, the Libraries of Stevens County teamed up with the Colville Library Improvement Club to provide all babies born at the Colville Mt. Carmel Hospital with a copy of The Real Mother Goose  - and a packet of information on early literacy for the parents.

Partnering with local community groups, the library also brought early literacy experts to Stevens County to give free workshops to parents, daycare providers, and pre-school teachers.

Storytime is a staple program at many libraries, but in a rural community, Storytime is often the only regular (and free) program for kids. Six Stevens County libraries provide weekly preschool Storytimes. The library also carries Storytime Kits that contain five books on a theme, related props, and a card with suggested rhymes and activities. These kits are used by parents for home Storytimes, or borrowed by daycares and preschools that are learning how to provide Storytimes.

As a new parent myself, I want our rural community to be a place of opportunity for my daughter. Thanks to the library and its partners in early learning, I think it can be.

-Whitney Edwards

Libraries of Stevens County