Adriaan Langendonk Programme coordinator March 26th 2015

Key figures 2015 for the Netherlands 16,908,000 inhabitants 175,000 babies born per year 700,000 children 0-4 years of age Childcare, 6,150 locations 1,500,000 pupils in primary school, 6,650 locations 950,000 pupils in secondary education 158 library organisations 810 branches, 200 small service points 9,000 people employed in libraries, many part-time

Kunst van Lezen (The Art of Reading) Reading Promotion Programme on the initiative of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, aimed at improving the language level of children through reading (and reading aloud to them) Two periods of four years: and A third period of three years ( ) is announced in March Action program Tel mee met Taal (Count Along With Language). Kvl is part of this large program (€50 million) to prevent and fight illiteracy. Investment €10 million total Kunst van Lezen.

Aims of Kunst van Lezen To raise children's reading ability to a higher language level through reading freely and reading aloud Anchoring the promotion of reading permanently and on an extensive scale in the policy of libraries, municipalities, childcare, centres for youth and family and in education Focus on the Public Library having an active role The strategic level (management team) of the local library take the lead within a strong network with municipalities, child health centres, daycare centres and schools

Kunst van Lezen – organization National coordination by Stichting Lezen (The Dutch Reading Foundation) and Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands) Provincial coordination by Provincial Service Organsations (PSO). They carry out the program tot the local libraries Local libraries carry out the program to schools and daycare centres

Stichting Lezen's continuous reading programme Continuous Reading Programme Second ary educat ion 0-4 years 4-12 years years

The three lines of the programme BoekStart (BookStart) and BoekStart in de kinderopvang (BookStart in Childcare) Bibliotheek op School (Library at school (including a monitor) Networks for promoting reading

Pillars Kunst van Lezen: LEES (Read) Leesomgeving (reading environment) Expertise Evidentie Samenwerking (coorporation)

Pijlers Kunst van Lezen Leesomgeving Expertise Evidentie Samenwerking BoekStart corner

Library at school

Evidenced based research is important Leiden University will carry out academic research in the coming years into the effects of the Library at school. This university carried out research into the effects of BoekStart. The Expertise Centres, Stichting Lezen and KB are cooperating closely.

BoekStart (bookstart) 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

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) BoekStart 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

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

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

The Library at school

What is the the Library at school? The Library at school is a national strategic approach adopted by the libraries, primary education and the government. This approach supports education, the library and the municipality. It increases pleasure in reading and consequently improves the language, reading and information skills of children. It is Measurable! Opting for the Library at school means that the above- mentioned together, and with their own networks, will work at various levels (of government) on developing a structural approach.

Themes: Building blocks

Substantiation of the approach

More reading and improvement of language use Improving language development has high priority at schools. Schools invest in education targeted at developing vocabulary, but often do not realise that this is insufficient as a means of eliminating a considerable backlog. Reading freely, at home and at school, has had a proven positive effect on reading comprehension, vocabulary (extending, consolidating, deepening), style of writing, spelling and knowledge of grammar. Pupils who spend a quarter of an hour a day reading can extend their vocabulary by 1000 words a year. Together the library and the school can improve the results of language learning by stimulating children to read more, both at school and at home. This can be done by means of up-to-date and varied collections, the presence of a librarian, agreement on cooperation, activities in relation to books in all classes, time reserved in the timetable for reading and borrowing books. The school and the library should both record their own results: the school monitors learning results while the library monitors borrowing and reading behaviour. The results should be evaluated jointly on a regular basis (working in a focussed manner).

The Monitor de Bibliotheek op school The Art of Reading Programme performed excellently from the start in terms of the number of participating libraries. Unfortunately, libraries could say little or nothing about their outreach to babies and pupils. They could also not report on positive effects realised by the programme. This has resulted in monitoring the outreach of the Library at school for primary schools and secundary education. Pilot Monitor BookStart