Idaho Commission for Libraries

How to do a Books in a Bag Project in your Community

Our goal as librarians and educators should be to get as many books into the hands of as many children as possible.

One way of providing access to more books is by implementing a "Books in a Bag" or Story Kit project. They go by many names -- Kids Packs, Together Time Bags, Book Buddies, Story Kits -- and more, but the concept is the same, package a bunch of age-appropriate quality books together, put them in a bag and get them circulating to young children in your community!

Story Kits and Deposit Collections

Storytime Kits: Many libraries have compiled storytime kits that can be used by early childhood educators, parents, or caregivers. Some kits are theme-based, while others, which stay at centers for a longer period of time, contain a large number of developmentally appropriate materials. Kits often include picture books; early childhood resource books; musical cassettes; puppets or other realia; and activity sheets that contain songs, finger plays, and other language activities. Some also include public-performance videos, flannel-board sets, games or toys. Kits are usually circulated in two ways: Early childhood educators pick up the kits at a library or agency, or kits are dropped off directly at he early childhood centers or home-care sites. The advantage of librarians and others dropping off kits is that they reach more people who probably would not make the effort to pick them up. For many caregivers, the convenience of having the kits delivered to their sites means they read to their children more often. Some libraries have staff members or Friends' groups deliver kits. Another major advantage of kits is that early childhood centers often cannot afford to buy many books, and thus have few good books to read to the children or must read the same books over and over again. Unless they stop at a library frequently to borrow books, children often have few good books read to them on a regular basis.

Deposit Collections Housed at Child Care Locations: Several libraries house a collection of books at child care providers or Head Start sites. Teachers can check out books and then take them back to their centers. Some just use the books in the centers, while others allow the children to take the books in the centers, while others allow the children to take the books home for the family members to read. This often resolves the problem of parents getting to the library with their children.

[Ideas from Library Programming For Families with Young Children by Sue McCleaf Nespeca]

Creating the Kits / Tips and Ideas from Librarians

1. Write out your objectives and outline your plan. Decide who your target audience is -- child care providers, parents, home schooners, a school partnership, etc. What age groups are you going to focus on? Decide how you will evaluate the effectiveness of the project.
2. Secure funding. Kits can run from $8 - $30 or more per kit depending on what you put in them. See the funding opportunity page for grant ideas. Make plans for how you will sustain the project and plan on replacing items as they get worn.
3. Select themes for each bag if you decide to use themes. Some libraries just pick four to six good children's books and videos for different age groups. Child care providers may prefer themed kits, while parents may prefer the convenience of grabbing a preselected set of materials they can read with their child.
4. Decide what items to purchase for each kit. If you're just starting out, you may want to start simple with books and a puppet, for example, depending on your objectives. Many libraries include games and manipulative which require more staff time to count and account for, but they are popular too.
5. Write an introductory page to be included with each kit (see sample).
6. Select and compile fingerplays, songs, and activities into easy to use formats. Decide if you are going to let people keep these sheets and replenish them, or if you go with the "laminated" model. See the resource section for great ideas from other libraries.
7. Process items for each kit. Use stickers or stamps to identify the books that belong with the kits. Use a permanent market to mark puppets, games, videos, etc.
8. Create a master list of items for each kit. Include the replacement price for items.
9. Create master folders or a binder with all the original copies of papers, etc.
10. Promote your project. Work with community partners to get the word out. If you can, find a way to rotate the whole project through as many recipients as possible -- even if this means a staff member delivers a new kit to a child care provider each month. Remember the goal is to get as many books into the hands of as many children as possible. Some libraries work with child care providers to check out the bags to parents when they pick up their child. This is a real service to busy parents! Prepare a press release so your community knows what a great idea this is. Think of other creative ways to advertise their availability.

Additional Resources:

King County Library System's Books to Grow On Kits. Explore this link to discover books, finger plays, poems and songs to share with toddlers and preschoolers. Click on an underlined theme topic and be taken to great ideas for books (click box content) and activities to extend stories. This is a great resource. http://www.kcls.org/webkids/btgo/index.cfm

Seattle Public Library's "Begin With Books" Project. Curriculum Theme Kits for Child Care Providers and Baby Boxes for Parents and Child Care Providers. http://www.spl.org/children/beginwithbooks/splkits.html

Library Programming for Families with Young Children , by Sue McCleaf Nespeca. Neal Schuman Publishers, 1994. This book has great ideas for book titles, songs and information on how to reach families and young children.

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