Bookstart Corner at Burton Library

In the summer of 2019, Liz Gardner at Burton Library partnered with East Staffordshire children’s centre and Winshill outreach centre to deliver Bookstart Corner to groups of families for the first time.

They had lots of fun with the babies and parents who came along, and found Corner to be a great fit with their other work around speech, language and communication.

Take a look at Burton Library's five top tips for delivering Bookstart Corner

'The sessions were good. I looked forward to going along every week and learning more things to help my child.' Parent feedback

How did Burton Library approach Bookstart Corner?

Liz delivered three blocks of four sessions, the first three of each were held at the children’s or outreach centre, followed by one at the library. Bookstart Corner doesn’t have to be held over four sessions, however. It can work just as well with three, or even as a longer event tacked on to a Rhyme Time or similar.

Who attended the sessions?

The sessions were aimed at families with children aged 12 months-plus but ended up taking parents with babies from three months. The offer attracted those who may need support around speech, language and communication but who do not perceive themselves to be vulnerable, so would not access services aimed at vulnerable families. For example, ESOL families, of which there are a high proportion in Burton.

'I am still learning English. I thought only reading and speaking in English would be ok for my child. Now I know I can read and speak in my own language too and I can talk to my child about the pictures in books and ask him questions about this even if I cannot read all the English words. I know too that the library has books in my language and the English in the same book.' Parent 

Families came along who weren’t going to libraries, and everyone who took part became library members. Seventy-five per cent went on to attend library sessions like Bounce & Rhyme.

There were some issues around recruitment, with families signing up and not attending. This came to work in the library's favour, as small groups (max five families) meant parents had more space to ask questions and interact with their child.

Linking to Bookstart Baby

Liz says: 'I found that strategy [linking Bookstart Corner to gifting Bookstart Baby] particularly helpful as parents receiving the Baby packs often did not know how to use them with their child. Attending the Corner sessions supported them with that. In the next sessions I’m planning to invite parents to upcoming Corner sessions as part of the Baby pack gifting.'

'After going to the sessions with my own baby I was able to see why my friends kids are struggling with talking because they are on their phones all the time, they don’t talk to the kids let alone read with them but it’s such a simple thing to do and it makes all the difference between kids doing well at school and ending up going nowhere.' Parent 

Complementing the library’s work

Liz has found that delivering Bookstart Corner, 'Fits really well with:

• The Children’s Promise (as part of the Universal Library Offers ) e.g. linking to Share A Million Stories (theme of World Book Day in 2020)
• Our local Staffordshire Early Outcomes Fund project around early speech, language and communication
• The development of the Staffordshire speech and language needs local Pathway (to link to the government launch of the speech and language needs national pathway in the new year)
• And with the current campaign, Hungry Little Minds, and Tiny Happy People
• In terms of East Staffordshire, it also links really clearly with the Place Based Priorities around increasing the Good Level of Development achieved by 2-year-olds in the area

'In light of the above links, I think it’s important for libraries to recognise that Corner is a simple way to achieve targets around these priorities, and something that is really worth the time to deliver.'