Dolly Parton Imagination Library will remain in Wood County.
The future of the program, which provides a free book to children each month, was in jeopardy after United Way of Greater Toledo announced this summer that it was no longer willing to be a local affiliate.
The county’s seven public libraries, collectively known as Woodlink, each needed to approve continued financial contributions to keep the project going.
Wayne Public Library earlier this month approved participation. It was the seventh and last library to give approval.
Wood County District Public Library Director Michael Penrod said at the Nov. 20 board of trustees meeting that he wanted to set off fireworks, but wasn’t allowed to do that in the building.
The support of the counties seven libraries is a great example of how we collaborate, said board President Ken Frisch.
Penrod will coordinate the transfer of funds being held by United Way of Greater Toledo to the Woodlink Agency Fund, which has been used for cooperative projects.
Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, Dolly Parton started her Imagination Library in 1995 for the children within her home county in Tennessee. Today, her program spans five countries and gifts over 2 million free books each month to children around the world.
When Fran DeWine became first lady of Ohio, her mission was early literacy. The state now covers half of the local share of the program.
Future funding will be divided based on population of each library’s service district, based on the 2020 census.
The Dolly programming will continue unless the state’s share of funding decreases or goes away, Penrod said.
“Dolly is important. I’m a boy from Appalachia and Dolly is here to stay as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
The program is a zip code-based, which is why all the libraries in the county needed to agree to the new funding model. Libraries are not allowed to go outside of their service district.
There are 4,200 children in the library’s service area that participate in the program, and that number goes up every week.
“This just makes a big difference in their lives,” Penrod said. “It’s exciting to put a book in a child’s hands.”
Imagination Library books are specially selected age-appropriate, high-quality titles. These books are delivered to registered children each month from birth to age 5. Each one is personalized with the child’s name and mailed directly to the child’s home.
Board member Brian Paskvan said his granddaughter’s favorite book is one she got from Dolly.
