In Oakland, attendance at storytime is strongest in branches in more affluent communities serving primarily stay-at-home parents and nannies. In Oakland’s lower income neighborhoods storytime is poorly attended and is mostly accessed by children in daycare or preschool settings with their formal caregivers. Through research we know that informal caregivers also seek children’s educational and recreational activities, information about wellness and early literacy and a place for community, and we seek to meet this need.

The first element is an update to the library environment and storytime program, including improved seating and larger, accessible collections of books and toys. Storytime is enhanced to include content that is valuable to the caregivers as well as the children. A second key element is incentives including snacks for caregivers and children. The final element is a reduction in barriers to participation, achieved through staff training and new outreach materials and methods.

Storytime attendance increased 300 percent at "Play Café" locations, with many new library users becoming regulars and the library’s understanding of caregivers’ needs has increased. Traditional storytime is fully child-focused; re-structuring it to address caregiver needs first has allowed us to expand our impact greatly at these two locations (with a third recently added). We expect best practices from "Play Café" to permanently shift the delivery and impact of our early literacy and school readiness programming.