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Could your first visit to the library be the beginning of a great life-long adventure? We believe so! That's why in September 2018, as part of the "Small Book - Great Man" campaign, we launched a pilot project aimed at both children starting pre-school education and their parents.
It is worth shaping the habit of daily reading with a child as well as regular visits to the library from the earliest years of a child's life; therefore, we invited parents of 3-year-olds to collect a special gift from the library together with their little ones. In the “Reading Layettes” prepared for them, there can be found a book Pierwsze wiersze dla... (“First Poems For…”) - a collection of poems for children by eminent Polish poets, a handbook for parents Książką połączeni, czyli o roli czytania w życiu dziecka (“Connected by a Book: the Role of Reading in a Child's Life”), which reminds them about the benefits of reading, as well as a Little Reader’s Card to collect stickers. For each visit to the library resulting in borrowing at least one book from the children's book collection, the Little Reader will receive a sticker, and, after having collected ten of them, they will be honoured with a personal certificate confirming their reading interests.
Nearly 800 public libraries from all over Poland have been accepted for the project, which, together with their subordinate branches, gives a total of 3.5 thousand libraries where one can collect "Reading Layettes". Since the beginning of the pilot project, the library has been visited by over 30 thousand three-year-olds with their parents. For most of them, it was their first visit, during which they were enrolled in the library and became full participants of a cultural life. Thanks to the pilot project, nearly 25,000 new readers came to the public libraries! Librarians became involved in the project with great commitment, becoming unique guides to the world of books for three-year-olds. The ceremonial awarding of the certificate to the child for frequent visits to the library was an excellent opportunity to build lasting ties with the child, which, we hope, will last for years. Since the beginning of the campaign, more than 4,000 three-year-olds have received a personal certificate for active development of their passion for reading, i.e. borrowing at least ten books.
The list of libraries where one can collect "Reading Layettes" for three-year-olds can be found here.
After the pilot project's success, we would like older children to receive books for "head start" in 2019. The work on a publication designed in terms of aesthetics and content for preschool-age children is in progress. Recruitment of libraries for the project on a nationwide scale will start in spring.
The most important information about the campaign can be found at: www.wielki-czlowiek.pl