The Wednesday Word: News from the Indiana State Library

THE READ-TO-ME PROGRAM
By Marcia Smith-Woodard (mwoodard@statelib.lib.in.us)

The Indiana Read-to-Me literacy program, a cooperative effort between the Indiana State Library Development Office and the state’s correctional facility libraries, began in the fall of 2000. The Read-to-Me program encourages offenders to read to their children. Through this program, the offenders discover the personal value and connections for both the child and themselves in developing literacy skills. Parents, regardless of their educational levels, become the child’s first teachers.

The program has four primary objectives:

To break the cycle of incarceration and low literacy

To educate parents to become their child’s first teacher
To instruct parents in the use of children’s books to teach the children in
their lives
To make personal connections with the children during the period of
incarceration

Many offenders from nine different correctional facilities have been actively involved in the program over the course of the last six years.

Currently, the Indiana State Library Development Office provides children’s books, cassette tapes, and postage for mailing the tapes and books. Grant funds, publisher donations, and local donations enable the program to continue. The library welcomes new and gently used books to assist in the success of this program.

Books used in the program are usually geared for children 10 and younger. Offenders work with library staff, teachers, other facility employees and volunteers to record the books they select. The recorded books and a Family History Survey, completed by offenders about their reading experiences, are returned to the Library Development Office.

Each child receives the book and tape and a letter acknowledging the collaboration between the State Library and the correctional facility. Follow-up surveys are also part of the process. The surveys were included in the program to measure the reactions of the incarcerated parents and the responses of the children. In the October 2005/September 2006 year 348 children were served by this program.

For more information about the program or how your library can reach out to offenders in nearby facilities, contact Marcia Smith-Woodard at (317) 232-3719 or mwoodard@statelib.lib.in.us.

For more information about the State Library, please visit us in downtown Indianapolis or online at www.statelib.lib.in.us.