Bookstart project in Polish libraries – annual eveluation
“Small Book – Great Person” is a nationwide bookstart project implemented by the Polish Book Institute since 2017, with funding from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in Poland.
The second stage of the project, aimed at pre-schoolers, has been implemented in public libraries since 2019. After enrolling in the library, children aged 4-6 can join the project, pick up a reading pack together with a Little Reader’s Card, and start a reading adventure that involves collecting stickers each time they borrow at least one book from the library. This builds the child’s reading habit. The reading pack includes a children’s book and a brochure for parents.
REPORT
Children are the direct beneficiaries of the project, but public libraries also stand to gain by participating in it. Not only does their group of young readers expand, but they also receive additional tools to help promote their own reading programme. For the 2024/2025 edition of the project, 6,878 libraries have signed up, representing as many as 90.85% of all public libraries in Poland. Although the number of libraries participating in the project is already very high, we are still observing an increase.
Each year, coordinators from the main libraries and their branches submit reports, which provide quantitative and qualitative data on the implementation of the programme. Among other things, these data enable us to gauge the development of children’s reading habits and how our activities are received by participants.
An analysis of the reports submitted by coordinators representing the 6,769 public libraries that participated in the 2023/24 edition of the project found that:
· 148,685 pre-schoolers collected their reading packs
· 66% of these were new readers who enrolled in the library in order to join the project
· Nearly 53% of them visited the library and borrowed books at least 10 times
In addition, the coordinators evaluate various aspects of the project – starting with its objectives and ending with its impact on adult reading and the relationship between librarians and readers. Below is a selection of evaluated aspects from the 2023/2024 edition of the project.
PROJECT CONCEPT
79.9% of the librarians surveyed gave the project concept the highest rating of 5. A rating of 4 was given by 17.4% of respondents, while ratings of 1,2 and 3 were given, respectively, by 0.8%, 0.1% and 1.8% of librarians.
READING PACK
57.4% of the librarians rated the text of the book at 5, while 30.1% gave it a rating of 4. A rating of 3 was given by 10.8%, while less than 2% rated the text as 1 or 2. 60.8% of the librarians gave the illustrations in the book a rating of 5, while 29.5% gave them a rating of 4. A rating of 3 was given by 8.2%, while less than 2% of respondents rated them as 1 or 2.
PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
When asked how they liked the promotional materials aesthetically, librarians overwhelmingly gave the highest rating. 74.5% of those asked gave the materials a rating of 5, while 22.8% rated them at 4. They were rated at 3 by 1.6% of librarians. A rating of 1 or 2 was given by a total of 1.1% of respondents.
ORGANISATION
Logistical matters, clarity of rules and communication with the organiser were rated at 5 by 78.7% of librarians. 17.4% of respondents gave this aspect a rating of 4. A rating of 3 was given by 3.3% of librarians. Less than 1% of those asked rated it either 1 or 2.
ADULT READING
More than half of the librarians surveyed (50.3%) confirmed that our project had contributed to an increase in the number of adult readers. 42.9% of respondents found it difficult to give a clear answer to this question, while only 6.8% said that the project had had no impact on the number of adult readers.
LIBRARIAN-READER RELATIONSHIP
Our research showed that, for 66% of pre-schoolers, the moment they joined the project and received their reading pack was also when they enrolled in the library. It appears that the project framework of meeting in the library can also have a significant impact on the development of relationships between librarians and young readers. As many as 79.7% of librarians declared in the latest report that relationships between them and readers had improved as a result of our project. 19.2% of respondents found it difficult to give a clear answer to this question. In contrast, only 1% of those interviewed indicated that the project had not affected this aspect of their work.
SOCIETY
In the latest report, we asked librarians whether they follow our website and social media. 95.3% said they do, while only 4.7% said they do not.
The results presented above are an excerpt from research investigating the effectiveness of our bookstart project. We would like to simultaneously emphasise that we are constantly evaluating our activities and assessing the effects of each stage of the project. We are conducting nationwide quantitative and qualitative research into, among other things, the impact of the Book Institute’s bookstart project on the reading practices of children and their families, and the recognisability and social evaluation of the campaign. The conclusions of the research confirm the effectiveness of the pro-reading activities carried out, but are also an interesting source of information on how reading habits are being formed among young project participants.