Reading at grade level by the third grade is one of the single-greatest predictors of lifelong success. Yet in Oregon, only 68 percent of third graders meet that benchmark, and within some communities of color and children living in poverty, the percentage is even lower. While some local school libraries operate with little to no budget beyond parent donations, Multnomah County Library has a top notch collection of print and online resources as well as expert staff who provide parent education and engaging programming needed to support the journey to literacy.

Welcome to Reading’s four stages: Research: included surveys; in-person interviews; staff workshops and ethnographic study of beginning reader sections, yielded user experience data and a prioritized projects list. Training/ideation: trained 125 public service staff on how children learn to read and reading level assessment; created new pilot services and partnerships. Pilots/getting to scale: 500 “new reader kits” deployed; 1,600 first graders participated in classroom pilot project; piloted partnership with teachers during fall conferences Reporting/inspiring: Produced free webinars for 200 library professionals; will present to more peers this fall; created new contact list for public library collaboration.

While this work continues, some pilot results have increased in scale:

• Welcome to Reading kits expanded from 500 to 1,250 to meet demand.
• The “Golden Ticket” campaign, connecting teachers and parents at fall conferences with public library resources expanded to every local first grader - over 8,000 students.
• Expanding Every Child a Reader Program from 400 early childhood sites into kindergarten classrooms to continue support for new readers. “As a reading specialist/mom -- Love this! I always struggle to help parents find 'just right' books for their kids as every publisher has a different leveling system. Thanks!!” - Kit user