Guest Northern Highlight - Meg Fletcher, Imagination Library
GUEST NORTHERN HIGHLIGHT
MEG FLETCHER
Can you tell us more about Dolly Parton's Imagination Library?
Absolutely! Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting programme that delivers quality, age-appropriate books to children at home each month from birth until their fifth birthday, completely free to their families. Dolly started the Imagination Library in 1995 in Sevier County, Tennessee where she grew up. It became such a success and loved by so many families that the programme began to scale up in 2000, and by 2003, we had mailed our one millionth book. In 2007, the Imagination Library was brought over to the UK and fast forward to today, we have over 2 million children receiving a book each month across five countries.
What does your role of Regional Director entail and what a typical workday looks like for you?
I’m based in York and am the Regional Director for the North of England and Northern Ireland for the Dollywood Foundation UK, which looks after the Imagination Library here in the UK. This means that I work closely to support our community partners within these regions, who we work with to bring the Imagination Library to new communities. The Dollywood Foundation takes care of all the infrastructure and ‘behind the scenes’ costs of the programme, and we just ask that our community partners cover the cost of books and postage for the children in their area – this on average is £2.16 per child per month.
We have four team members in the UK, three Regional Directors and our Executive Director, all spread across the UK, so we don’t have a UK office. Working from home means my typical commute is fairly short, and yes, we do work 9-5! I’m normally supporting our partners by email and zoom most days and what this looks like varies from partner to partner, depending on their needs. I also reach out to new potential partners that we think could be a good fit for what we do. We love speaking with new people to explore whether the Imagination Library could work for their community.
How are the books and relevant themes selected?
We work exclusively with Penguin Random House to select our books, this means we are able to select books from a range of authors, have some printed especially for the Imagination Library and include tactile board books for the younger children, all whilst staying below the £2.16 per child, including postage. We have a fabulous UK Book Selection Committee who meet each year for two days to select the books for the following year, they are all experts in early years, literacy and literature. The book selection committee works hard to ensure that the books are age appropriate, and that there is a spread of both fiction and non-fiction, poems, and new and traditional stories.
Our core mission for the Imagination Library is to inspire a love of reading, so our books are primarily chosen because they are a joy for children to read. This is supplemented by other fundamental themes such as: regard for diversity of people, their roles, culture, and environment; promotion of self-esteem and confidence, appreciation of art and aesthetics.
The committee strongly believe that every child and family should feel represented and they work hard to ensure the titles in the programme reflect this with regards to ethnicity, disability, gender, relationships and family composition.
How do you feel this initiative impacts children and parents in the North of England?
I am incredibly proud to have such a strong representation of the Imagination Library in the North of England. I was so fortunate growing up that I was read to regularly, we visited the local library often and had access to plenty of books. This isn’t the case for so many children and families across the UK and it’s why I’m so passionate about ensuring that children have their own books at home. Book ownership, and the sense that something is arriving in the post each month just for you is an incredibly powerful thing and I want more children to be able to experience that.
We regularly hear feedback from parents about how much they value the books and what an impact it has on their children, and this is what makes it all worth it.
How do you collaborate with local partners?
We work with a range of partners to bring the Imagination Library into communities, this typically looks like a delivery partner who is responsible for the whole programme, from fundraising, to registering the children. This is often an organisation such as another charity, local housing association, nursery or school, but we also have a huge number of volunteers who just want to do something good in their community. We are also approached by funders who want to provide the financial support for the programme; we will link them into an existing programme or reach out to organisations in the area they are hoping to support. We are able to offer direct community impact through the Imagination Library, with all funds donated going towards the cost of books and postage. We see real strength in working with a range of grassroots individuals and organisations who are best placed to know what their community wants and needs and we’re here every step of the way to support them in that.
What is for you the spirit of the North, and do you feel it's represented by the Imagination Library?
I feel that ‘community’ for me is what the spirit of the North means. There is such a strong sense of communities pulling together to help each other, to create a better place to live and help those in need. I feel this is most strongly represented in our community partners across the region; they are from a range of backgrounds but are ultimately all individuals who give their time and passion to make their community the best place possible to grow up.
There’s a great quote from Dolly that says “If you’re lucky enough to be in a position to help, you should help” – and I think for me that sums up the North to a tee. People want to do all they can for each other and their community, and those that are in a position to help, most definitely do.
What would you like to see from the creative industries in the North of England?
It would probably be more collaboration – and this goes for all industries across the North, not just creatives. I think there is so much more to be achieved by working collaboratively and being open to trying new things or new ways or working.
What does the future of the Imagination library look like in the North of England and Scotland?
It’s got to be reaching all under-fives – that’s our ultimate goal, right?! We have a really strong representation of programmes across the North but particularly in West Yorkshire where we currently reach 7% of the total eligible population. We have such a range of partners providing the programme in their community, my goal is to work with them to increase their capacity and support their sustainability as well as bringing new partners on board to reach more families. My colleague Kirsty looks after Scotland and has some fabulous partners working there to bring the programme to new communities, I know her answer would definitely be all under fives in Scotland registered for the Imagination Library!
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