Libraries are excellent members of their community – we all know that. And we are also great at partnering with other organizations, departments, or groups to provide better service to everyone.

One great tool we have is partnering with doctors to provide books and reading inspiration to everyone! This is the 30th anniversary of the Reach Out and Read program – and it’s such an inspiration to everyone!

Is your library involved in this program? Is there anything CMLE can do to help you work through some ideas to launch it in your community? We would love to help! You can read the info from the Reach Out And Read material on starting a new program here. “The Reach Out and Read model is designed to be implemented by medical professionals who provide primary care to children, ages 6 months through 5 years, as part of the well-child checkup. Both pediatric practices and family practices that see children may participate Reach Out and Read. ”

CMLE can help you to connect with medical professionals in your community, if that is an interest of yours. More reading, more books, more literacy – it’s good for everyone!

Check out the excerpt from the article below; and click on the link to read the whole thing.

“Raising a community of readers is a fundamental objective of public libraries. Libraries make it their primary business to build readers, with story times, readers advisory, thoughtfully developed collections, and more. But libraries don’t do all the heavy lifting on their own. They get plenty of help from their communities—even at the doctor’s office.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Reach Out and Read, an organization that helps transform doctors and health care professionals into partners in literacy. Since its launch at Boston Medical Center in 1989, under the leadership of Robert Needlman and Barry Zuckerman, Reach Out and Read has been giving young children a foundation for success by donating books to pediatric care providers, reading aloud to kids in waiting rooms, and teaching families about the benefits of reading together at home.

To this day, the program’s inspiration remains a powerful memory for Needlman: he was standing in the inpatient ward when, at the end of the hallway, he noticed a mother reading to her child. “The mom became so excited,” he says, recalling how the child’s reaction to the words the mom read appeared to give her an “incredible charge of energy.”

Such experiences have kept Needlman motivated and involved with Reach Out and Read, which, 30 years after its launch, counts more than 6,000 partners in all 50 states. “There are more and more doctors who get it and use it,” Needlman says, adding that the program has become a popular way for new doctors to forge relationships with families during child wellness visits.

I’m fortunate that Needlman lives and works in the Cleveland area. When I moved to Cleveland in 1997 and discovered that he also had relocated there, it took me nearly a year to work up the courage to call him. But once we met, I quickly saw why children, doctors, and librarians so easily put their trust in the mission of Reach Out and Read.