BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING:

THE “EVERY BABY A BOOK” PROGRAM”

Shukriah Binti Hj. Yon

The paper present at TK Conference on Reading 2012

Meeting Room 1-2, Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, Bangkok

July 12-13, 2012

 

                                           

BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING:

THE “EVERY BABY A BOOK” PROGRAM”

Shukriah Binti Hj. Yon1

Abstract

The program “Every Baby A Book” is developed and is being implemented by

Penang Public Library Corporation (PPLC) Malaysia. The target group for this program are

babies and the program involves the parents / caregivers of babies. The program was

launched nationwide on 27 July 2007 by the Minister, Ministry of Women, Family and

Community Development, Malaysia. The paper will talk about the rationale behind the

program, how it was developed and how it is being used as a basis of a campaign to

educate the public about the value of interacting with babies through reading. The core

messages that the program hopes to convey will be discussed. The campaign has several

aims and these will be highlighted.

The paper will also describe all the features of the program the basis of which is an

attractive, colourful, non-toxic cloth book with local content which was crafted by the

Library staff and printed locally. The challenges faced in carrying out the program which

involves working with several agencies from the private and public sector - government

hospitals/clinics and related governmental organisations and non-governmental

organizations, will also be highlighted. The impact of the program is an important indicator

of its effectiveness and the methods of measuring the success of the program will be

touched on.

                                                            1Director, Penang Public Library Corporation,

JKR 2118, Jalan Perpustakaan,Seberang Jaya, 13700, Penang,MALAYSIA

Tel: 604-397771058; 604-3979949 H/P: 6019-4714247

Email: shukriah@penanglib.gov.my  

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INTRODUCTION

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCROC) protects and

promotes the rights of children to special care

The Convention also acknowledges the primary roles of the parents and family and

recognises that a child should grow up surrounded by them and in an atmosphere of

happiness, love and understanding that will allow for the full development of the child’s

. In addition the state is given responsibility to ensure that the child “has access

and there are more brain cells during these

Babies have unlimited learning potential and a tremendous capacity to learn.

• Reading provides the context during which this learning occurs.

to their education from their parents/caregivers

ronments for this group.

and protection “before as well as after birth’.

personality

to information and material ... especially those aimed at the promotion of moral well-being,

physical and mental health” by encouraging “the production and dissemination of

children’s books.” The program “Every Baby A Book” is a positive action program by the

State, through the Penang Public Library Corporation (PPLC) and represents an expression of

the principles and philosophy that is enshrined in the UNCROC.

OBJECTIVES

The early years of a child’s life is a period during which we see phenomenal changes.

Babies' brains develop at an astonishing rate

early years than in any other time in a life of a human being. The learning potential of a

child at this stage is unlimited and magical and the more stimulation the child receives, the

more the brain grows. However optimal development depends on the experiences that the

caregiver provides them. Reading is one of the experiences that influences the way the

brain develops. The main objective of the program is to educate the public about the value

of interacting with babies through reading. The messages that are conveyed to the

participants of this program are that

•

• This group needs more attention

• Libraries with children collections provide suitable envi

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The anticipated outcomes of the program are

• An increasing awareness of the roles of libraries with children collections

• Increase in membership through registration at birth, and the increase in usage of the

Penang Public Library

• Increase in parental/caregiver understanding of the development of babies and

young children and their capacity for learning

OUR PARTNERS

The number of births recorded in Penang state in the last three years are as follows:

2005 2006 2007

21,399 20,557 20,907

Source: Penang State Health Department

In order to ensure that as many parents of these babies as possible are made aware

of this program, PPLC works with many partners. The main partner is the Ministry of

Women, Family and Community Development, Malaysia and its agency the National

Population and Family Development Board which has a network of 14 State offices and 49

State and district clinics. The Library also works with the state’s government hospitals, 62

rural clinics, 26 health centres and 6 Mother and Child clinics. The program is also

implemented in private hospitals, as about one third of the babies born in the state are

eeding

s also on our partner

carry

delivered at private hospitals. Other governmental departments that are contacted include

the National Births and Deaths Registration Department. The World Alliance for Breastf

Action (WABA) is a Penang-based non-governmental organization that i

list.

PPLC staffs make regular visits to these places to promote the program, and

out training sessions. Developing relationships with our partners is an ongoing process. Staffs

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have to keep in constant contact them to be informed of any opportunities that arise from

roviding the

The basic resource of the “Every Baby A Book” program is an attractive cloth book

ublished by PPLC itself.

The title is ambitious as the intention is to get the parents/caregivers of every baby

born in the state of Penang to be exposed to this program and that no baby should be left

out. As a result, e y will hav k. However mplementing, the program

Book” for a particular street, “Every

aby A Book” for a particular village, “Every Baby A Book” for a particular organization.

time to time. Every one of our partners are very cooperative. It appears that p

best for babies and children is high on all their agendas. Besides this every time PPLC goes

on a road show there will an exhibition of the “Every baby A Book” program.

THE BOOK

p

The Title

very bab e a boo when i

can be managed at the micro level e.g. “Every Baby A

B

The Structure

The physical structure of the book is that of the traditional print format with cover,

title page, contents page and numbered pages. It is important to introduce the child to this

structure as the books that a young child will be exposed to as this early age are in a similar

linear format. Cloth was chosen as the medium as it is environmentally friendly, it is pliable

but strong, it has a soft texture, it will not pose any danger if the baby puts the book in the

mouth, and it can be easily washed the normal way. The cloth book allows the baby to use

its senses of vision, touch, taste and smell. Parents are asked to embroider the child’s

name on the cover of the child’s copy of the book.

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The Contents

The contents of the wordless picture book were determined by the staff of the

Library and the following were taken into account:

• Images will have be big and colorful

• would have to be of objects that are familiar in a child’s surroundings

•

ects that are “Malaysian” will be included

• Inclusion of concepts that are critical to communication development such as the

abet and numbers

•

ic in

the Library’s collection

• An image of self

• A coconut tree as this is one of the most common and useful trees in Malaysia

They

They would be culturally meaningful

• Only images of obj

alph

Object that are common in rural areas of Malaysia

• Image of natural as opposed to man-made objects

• Images should reflect good values e.g. healthy foods

• The images should be of objects that had many other books on the same top

Several discussions were held on the contents and the final images included in the

book were:

• The alphabet in upper and lower case displayed according to the script as used by

the Ministry of Education Malaysia in primary schools

• The numbers 1-10 displayed according to the script as used by the Ministry of

Education Malaysia in primary schools

• Eight common shapes in solid colours

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• Local fruits – the banana which is a cheap and easily available fruit, full of nutrients,

and which are cheap and also an important

uck, a cockerel and a cow

r the usage of which is

ntion to create awareness among

ery profound effect on the well

ymate.

to the images as well as suggestions for

activities that will make the interaction between the parents/caregivers and the child a fun

xperience every time the book is used.

about the age of 7, and according to the pace of the maturity of the child.

ng (“Read yourself – be good role model”,

g to babies (“Spend time reading together with your baby every

and the king of fruits, the durian

• The national flower, the hibiscus

• Fishes that are endemic in Malaysia

source of protein in the local diet

• Animals that included a cat, a dog, a d

• And finally, the man-made machine, the ubiquitous compute

becoming a part of our daily routine

In selecting the images it was also the unseen inte

parents of the importance of exposing young children to nature. A growing body of

literature illustrates that the natural environment has a v

being of children and that Mother Nature is a child’s best pla

The book has Parents Guide text incorporated into it as “talking points”. These

“talking points” provide information related

and enjoyable e

The contents of the book can be used by the parents from the time the baby is

born up till

In addition, PPLC has published a booklet for parents/caregivers which is distributed

together with the cloth book. The booklet is entitled “A Smart Investment: Time for

Reading” and contains “bite-size”

• Messages for parents related to readi

“Reading can be done anywhere”),

• Advice on readin

day”, “Interact with your baby through daily activities such as during bath time and

when changing diapers”)

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• Advice on reading to toddlers (“Put your child on your lap, be sure the child can

see the picture,” “Read at the child’s pace”)

the child to read”, “Physical activities are also

RAINING

s contents

•

•

ung children

• Reading reminders(“Do not force

important for your child and contribute to learning and overall development”)

All these messages do not involve the parents spending any money – just their time.

The contents of the cloth both and booklet are in English and Bahasa Malaysia.

T

Training is carried out at two levels:

Train the Trainers

This training is conducted for the staff of the Library and the staff of our program

partners. The training is carried out in a formal environment. A printed module is given to

every participant during the training. The topics covered include:

• Detailed information about the cloth book and it

Bibliographic information of books in the Penang Public Library on topics in the cloth

book

The development of the baby from conception till birth

• The milestones in the development of babies and toddlers

• Reading process for babies

• Selection of books for babies and yo

• Information on the Penang Public Library services, particularly its collections and

services related to children.

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The training is a 2 day session and at the end of it every trainer is expected to make

a presentation on how they would promote the program in their organization.

Training the Parents/Caregivers

These sessions are carried at various locations and the group can range from more

an twenty to individual parents. The parents/ caregivers will be given information on how

view of the

ibrary services and are asked to register themselves and the baby as members. This

arried out at various locations including the Library, hospitals and even in homes

ND GLOBAL

in Durban. There were 80

poster presentations on display during the conference. The program is also listed in the

site of the IFLA Libraries

Women, Family and Community Development,

ia. The public Libraries in Kedah, Perlis, Selangor, Malacca , Sabah and Sarawak have

rs.

collected and analysed .

th

to use the cloth book, and tips on reading, and also information on how to play their role in

creating readers. During these sessions participants are provided with an over

L

training is c

for Stay-at-home parents.

GOING NATIONAL A

A Poster presentation on the program was judged 2nd runner-up in the poster

presentations competition during the 2007 International Federation of Library Associations

and Institutions (IFLA) World Library and Information Conference

New and Best Practices from all over the world section of the web

for Children and Young Adults Section. In Malaysia the program was launched nation-wide

in July 2007 by the Minister, Ministry of

Malays

also taken up the program and are in various stages of implementing it. It is our hope that

this is the beginning of our efforts towards creating a nation of reade

IMPACT OF THE PROGRAM

The success of any program is gauged by the objectives attained. Statistics on the

penetration rate of this program as well as the increase in the membership are being

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Monitoring Report

On January 2008, a pilot project on 'Every Baby A Book' was launched. PPLC

onducted a survey to ascertain the suitable families. Certain criteria was set. The families

years and a family income not more than RM1,000.00 a

underprivileged families lives here. Monitoring was done by staff

f village libraries nearby. Every month the staff sends the report to the officers in charge of

w the baby reacted to the cloth book and what type of

c

must at least have a baby age 2

month. The level of the parent's education was also taken into consideration. About 250

forms were distributed through the village libraries.

Method of monitoring

About 240 forms came back after a week. A selection was made and 58 families

were chosen to undergo the project. The participants were selected from the Province

Wellesley District as more

o

every district. Reports was on ho

books the parents borrowed, which should reflect the contents of the cloth book.

The Report

a. The reaction

During the monitoring session, the staff reported that the babies took real

interest in the cloth book. They touched, hug and even chewed the book. The cloth book

became their best friend around. The mother also complaint that they need to wash it

often, which is a compliment to us as it showed that the book was a success with the

babies.

For the toddler, we found that they can relate with the pictures in the book

to the real thing like the cat and they even made meowing sound of the cat. They were

very interested in the striking colors used in the cloth book.

ew up, they became less interested in the cloth book. Instead As the child gr

they were more interested in the books in the library and they always come to the library to

borrow books.

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b. The borrowing

re related to the content of the cloth

ook, like animals, colors or alphabets, as the cloth book use to attract them to find more

s highlighted in the book. Using the contents of the book, the

he project were enthusiastic about registering all their

families to use the cloth book

milies remain as the other 4 families moved out of Penang. Some of these

milies could no longer come to the village libraries because they are house bound due to

In 2008, from the 58 families that were monitored about 85 library materials

were borrowed by the child and their families. While in 2009, the borrowing increased to

572. In 2010, about 479 library materials were borrowed, and 408 were borrowed in 2011. In

2012, until June, about 201 library materials were borrowed.

Most of the library materials borrowed by them we

b

information about thing

parents were able to communicate with the children. They were guided using the book and

spending time with the children, reading and communicating. Good literacy skills were

introduced to the parents so that they intend will understand the excitement of discovering

knowledge and works of the imagination. This program was able to teach the parents and

children how to make the best use of the library and how to develop skills in the use of

books and reading.

c. The Library Membership

We noted that most of the family members who were registered as library

members during the first two years of t

family members as they found out that they could borrow more if the whole family

became library members. From the 58 families who received the free cloth book, about

148 new library members were registered. They included the parents and also the baby's

siblings.

Challenges

The Penang Library made an effort to approach 58

and monitoring was done for 2 years. During that time efforts were made by the village

library staffs to train the parents and their babies on literacy skills and motivate them on

becoming library members. We could not retain the 58 families because by the end of 2

years only 54 fa

fa

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commitments at home. Since they are already library members the staff brought the library

books to them so as to continue the reading interest of the children.

Closing

The cloth book is a successful story to initiate the reading habits since early

childhood. Reports showed that the child who was exposed to the book from babies tend

rvice : IFLA/UNESCO guidelines for development/

terna Associations and Institutions). Munchen : Saur,

to love books and reading. In rural areas especially, the need to provide free cloth book was

rather significant. PPLC through village libraries are always ready to help the parents to instill

the love of reading to their child. Hopefully in the future, with sponsorship, all new born

babies in Penang can get the cloth book for free as a gift to newborn.

References

The public library se

(In tional Federation of Library

2001

United Nations General Assembly (1989), Convention on the Rights of the Child viewed 12

June 2008, <http://www.un.org/documents/ga/res/44/a44r025.htm>