BoekStart for Babies Reading advancement programme for young children (0- 2) Goal: to bring parents and babies into contact with books and reading by establishing links between them and the Library BoekStart is the start of a continued reading process

Started in 2008 An initiative of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), national coordination by Stichting Lezen (Foundation for the Promotion of Reading) and Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of The Netherlands) Focus on the Library having an active role Collaboration with municipalities, child health centres, daycare centres and book shops

Reasoning Children who read do better in society, From: Read or not to read: Scientific research by Suzanne Mol (Dec 2010) Each dollar invested in early childhood education yields 9 dollars, Nobel Prize winner James Heckman Reading to children improves linguistic development, Kunst van Lezen, Kees Broekhof (Dec 2011) BookStart stimulates parents to initiate verbal interaction with their baby, Heleen van den Berg (Feb 2015)

Status Baby around 3 months old: parents receive a voucher from their municipality for a free Library membership for their baby Free BoekStart case with 2 free books Almost all Libraries in the Netherlands are participating 54,000 cases were picked up in 2014; 30% of all babies born

PhD research BoekStart makes babies smarter Research into the effects of BoekStart by Leiden University (Heleen van den Berg/ Adriana Bus) Interim results for 2012: comparison between BoekStart children and children who are not yet familiar with BoekStart Final results: spring 2015 Thesis:

Results on parents BoekStart parents: read to their children more often visit the Library more often talk to their children more and use more varied vocabularies know more about the available books continue to read to children with behavioural issues

Results on children BoekStart children watch less television BoekStart children want to be read to more BoekStart children with behavioural issues benefit even more from BoekStart

BoekStart in Daycare Centres Extension of BoekStart for Babies in 2011 For children (0-4) in daycare centres Aim: to bring children, parents & childcare employees into contact with books and reading by establishing links between them and the Library 2014: 15% of the daycare centres participates

Benefits for Daycare Centres More in-house expertise Good climate for reading to children is part of the pedagogical requirements of daycare centres Establishing a clear profile Tapping into new resources

Benefits for the Library More Library members More in-house expertise Increase in purchased services Visibility Tapping into new resources

Central elements An attractive place to read in the daycare centre The development of a collection of first books Professionalisation of childcare workers Involving parents Plan for reading aloud so that reading aloud is given a permanent place Cooperation with partners in a network to promote reading

Quote childcare worker ‘Twice a year, we have an inspiration afternoon with the Library and we regularly ask which books fit into a certain theme. We used to just check out a book every so often, and that was that. Now, we’re reinventing the wheel together.’

For more information boekstart.nl (parents) boekstartpro.nl (professionals) leesmonitor.nu (research)