Marion Public Library tells school board its outreach reaches most new children; offers school-level participation data

Gary Branson, executive director and fiscal officer of the Marion Public Library, told the Marion City Schools Board of Education at its Dec. 15 meeting that the library’s literacy initiatives work closely with district schools and community partners to put books into children’s hands.

Branson described the Let’s Read 20 program, which brings children’s authors into the community and distributes free copies of books to students, and said the library partners with the district, county schools, United Way and the Marion Community Foundation to run the program. "That is actually a joint project between Marion City Schools, all the county schools, the library, United Way participates in that actively and so does Marion Community Foundation," Branson said.

He also explained how the Dolly Parton Imagination Library is now an automatic option when parents register newborns in Ohio, saying "you opt out at that point rather than going through the options of opting in." Branson told the board the library’s internal tracking shows about 72% enrollment in Marion County for that program and that last summer reading logs recorded 5,135 hours of reading countywide.

Board members asked for Marion City School–specific participation numbers; Branson said the library tracks registrations by school and offered to provide those figures. The board and Branson discussed practical ways teachers can connect with library services: Branson said librarians regularly fulfill teacher requests for book sets, host classroom or after-hours visits, and can supply point-of-contact lists. He identified Whitney Maley as the library’s children’s librarian who would be a primary contact for school-focused outreach.

Branson emphasized access as a priority: the library maintains Saturday and evening hours, accepts homeless-shelter addresses for library cards and has previously issued limited-use cards to encourage use by children who face access barriers. He also credited Marion General hospital for grant funding that supports a newborn bib/book distribution tied to the Dolly program.

The board did not vote on policy during the presentation. Branson said he would follow up with a staff member more directly involved with children’s programming and provide the school-specific participation data the board requested.