In 2012, an article based on Dolly’s Imagination Library initiative was included in the academic journal, Reading Psychology. The article, "The Imagination Library Program: Increasing Parental Reading Through Book Distribution" by Ridzi, Sylvia, & Singh, marks the first publication of empirical research assessing the impact of this international program in an academic, peer-reviewed journal.
A range of communities continued to join Dolly’s book gifting program in 2012: The United Ways of St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield (the 3 largest cities in Missouri); Ft. McMurray in Alberta joined becoming the largest program in Canada; and in the United Kingdom, a plan was established for ‘looked after children’ by 26 Local Authorities in Scotland.
In 2011, Imagination Library started realizing the promise of using technology to expand its reach. One of the proudest moments for the program was the announcement of a partnership with The American Printing House for the Blind. This partnership made audio versions of many of these titles available for children with visual impairments and made sure some selected books were available in Braille.
Imagination Library also put a new emphasis on using social media. Avenues of opportunity were discovered on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ while bloggers provided further awareness. Further proof emerged that the program inspires much more reading in the home.
By December, this universal effort was operating in 1,642 communities. Over 675,000 children were participating in the program and for the year 7,999,673 books were mailed. A grand total of 38,492,164 Imagination Library books have been delivered since the beginning when it all started in one small town.
In 2010, racing across borders and gaining speed, "The Little Engine That Could," was chug chug chugging along, while the actual book itself arrived in mailboxes, much to the delight of 249,125 children under five. With over 1,300 operating programs in three countries, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was mailing 560,000 books a month, a grand total of 7.1 million this particular year.
In July, The Junior League of Birmingham, and Dolly herself presented the 25 millionth book to Kumar Smith.
"It was beautiful,"
mother Shalisha Stewart said of her family's experience.
"She sang Kumar a song, 'Celebrate the Dreamer in You.' She wrote it for him. He was like, 'She wrote me a song?' And I told him that he was the hero of the day."
Knox County Schools in Tennessee completed the year-long study of their new kindergartners, and in Michigan, the Great Start Collaborative commissioned a study by Michigan State University on the same age group. Children enrolled in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library performed better on all assessments than children who were not enrolled. In addition, the University of Alaska Anchorage researchers, completed evaluation studies of Imagination Library demonstrating that children participating in the program are more enthusiastic about reading, read to more often, and perceived by parents to be better prepared for school. While the books are free to families, the lasting impact of the program is priceless.
A Canadian documentary called 'The Book Lady,' was released and later added to Air Canada’s in-flight movie rotation. The film was invited to the Cleveland International Film Festival and the 40th Nashville Film Festival. (more…)
After Canadian families began receiving books each month in 2006, the global expansion of Dolly’s Imagination Library continued in England in 2007. One of the goals of the popular book gifting organization is to create a love of reading in all kids all over the world, as a result, The Dollywood Foundation of the United Kingdom was launched and the Imagination Library was made available to new families in Britain.
Penguin Books UK was named the exclusive publisher for the collection, the Royal Mail was used for monthly deliveries, and a wonderful panel of experts gathered to choose the best selection of book titles.
