Public Policies and Public Library-Emergent Literacy Relationship in the USA

Abstract

In the USA, last decade witnessed a huge interest in children’s early literacy development. All public agencies, as a part of public support to education, started to align their visions and missions to contribute to this sort of interest along with the support of the federal government. The Federal Government supported this growing interest with several acts and hence, all public agencies including ALA and other library associations revised their mission statements. Public libraries, with their special feature of the equal and free access to the public they serve, were considered to be one of the most appropriate places to support children’s early literacy development. In that context, a public library was chosen in terms of its staffs’ perceptions of early literacy and their services to the clientele. The study results revealed that the library staff believe in the importance of children’s early literacy development, and prepare programs to support it, although they have some constraints such as shortage of funds and difficulties in reaching all the people in the community.

Keywords

• public libraries
• public policy issues
• literacy
• preschool children