Transforming: Community Relationships

Library Outreach Programming for Expectant Parents and Parents of Newborns

Sunday, June 26, 2022

9:00am – 10:00am

Location: Washington Convention Center, 140B

How can we reach expectant parents from underserved and unserved populations with the message that literacy begins before birth, letting them know the important role they play in their babies' development while showing them playful ways to talk, sing, and share books with their babies from the very start? "Mother Goose on the Loose: Hatchlings", is a research-based collaborative project of the Maryland State Department of Education, Maryland State Library, Mother Goose on the Loose, local librarians, and community partners. Hatchlings: Ready to Hatch is a one session program for pregnant adults. Hatchlings: In the Nest consists of four weekly sessions geared for parents with newborns from birth to four months. Both versions of Hatchlings have already been successfully piloted virtually with English and Spanish speakers in Maryland.

If you are a library director, an outreach coordinator, an early literacy specialist, or a children’s librarian interested in reaching this audience, consider bringing Hatchlings to your community. Participate in hands-on activities to experience the adaptations that have made traditional songs and rhymes more relevant to this unique audience. Sample part of a virtual Hatchlings program for Spanish speakers. Hear a program participant describe the value that Hatchlings has had for her family. Take a brief tour of programming materials. Listen to the librarians who envisioned, created, translated, implemented, and evaluated Hatchlings in its earliest stages describe the process, budget, design, surveys, challenges and successes, and participants’ reactions.

Discover how new roles created by community partners brought in hesitant participants and how adaptations for COVID worked. See the high impact Hatchlings has had on parental early literacy behaviors and consider bringing Hatchlings to your community!

Learning Objectives:

Describe how Hatchlings promotes expanded access to diverse populations (an ALA Core Value) via programming for expectant parents and parents of newborns in English and Spanish.
Demonstrate at least two Hatchlings activities that librarians can use to convey the importance of early literacy practices, share health and child development information, and strengthen parent/child bonding.
Recruit community partners (and other librarians) to expand their range of service and ability to reach underserved communities through Hatchlings, while empowering parents as their babies’ first important teacher.

Main Contact(s)

Betsy Diamant-Cohen, MLS, DCD

Executive Director
Mother Goose on the Loose LLC

Speaker(s)

Elaine Czarnecki, MEd, Reading Specialist

Literacy Consultant / Owner
Resources in Reading
Betsy Diamant-Cohen, MLS, DCD

Executive Director
Mother Goose on the Loose LLC
Kirsten Grünberg

Librarian III
Prince George's County Memorial Library System
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Pamela A. Hamlin, Pamela Hamlin is the Family Literacy Specialist for the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System. For over 25 years, she has worked in the early education field as a teacher and administrator, teen parent resource and referral counselor, trainer, and librarian. One aspect of her current position is providing early literacy workshops for caregivers, librarians, and early childhood educators based on ALA’s Every Child Ready to Read initiative. She was honored to have served on the 2019 Newbery Award Committee.

Family Literacy Specialist
Prince George's County Memorial Library System
Denise R. Laird, Denise Laird is a Library Associate in the Outreach Department of the Carroll County Public Library in Maryland. She drives Storytime Express bookmobiles to deliver books and present Storytimes for preschools, day care centers and home care providers throughout Carroll County. She helps design and perform puppet shows based on classic children’s literature as part of the Carroll County Public Library puppet troupe, presenting in branches and on the road. She also teaches best practices for Storytimes and Puppetry to high school students in Child Development classes. Since COVID, she has added a popular virtual Storytime series to her offerings. Denise has been a Home Visitor for the international program Parents as Teachers for both the library and the local public school system. She previously was a part of the Judy Center, the early learning initiative, in Carroll County Public Schools since its inception in 2002 and previously taught Kindergarten.

Library Associate
Carroll County Public Library / Outreach Services
CS

Carrie Sanders, Masters of Library Science

Youth Services Coordinator
Maryland State Library
Dorothy Stoltz, MLS; certified trainer for Edward de Bono Creativity Thinking Methods, retired director for community engagement at Carroll County Public Library in Maryland. She was chair of the PLA/ALSC Every Child Ready to Read Committee (2014-2015), president of the Maryland STEM Festival Board (2017 - 2022), and is currently serving on the Maryland Hatchlings Steering Committee. Upcoming book release: Activate Peer Learning in Your Library and Community, Dec. 15, 2022. Other publications include Inspired Thinking, Transform and Thrive, Inspired Collaboration, and the article “Augmented Reality Brings Early Industry to Life” in Old Mill News. Dorothy is a co-author for the ALSC white paper, “Media Mentorship in Libraries Serving Youth,” The Power of Play, Every Child Ready for School, Tender Topics, and the Every Child Ready to Read Toolkit for Serving Early Childhood Educators. She is consultant and owner of Waldo Publishers LLC.

Consultant
Waldo Publishers LLC

Main Contact(s)

Elaine Czarnecki, MEd, Reading Specialist

Literacy Consultant / Owner
Resources in Reading