While the program may be new to some, it has a history that began
24 years ago as a collaboration between Family Connections and
Shaker Library. Designed with the idea that parents and caregivers are
children’s first teachers, it was one of the first literacy playrooms of its
kind in Ohio.
In 1994, Family Connections met with a committee of school
administrators, teachers, and preschool educators to talk about the
problems resulting from a wide range in the quality of readiness among
incoming kindergartners. Shaker Library was invited to participate and
to help discuss ways to level the playing field for children who were not
as ready as others.
@ Shaker Library
The next year, Martha Bays, then the Outreach Children’s Librarian (now a retired
minister), and Joanne Federman, director of Family Connections, participated in Library
Partnerships for Preschools at Kent State University’s School of Library and Information
Science. The focus was on emergent literacy – the concept that learning to read and write
begins at birth.
Family Connections and the Library committed to developing a program that would
use emergent literacy to tackle the school-readiness gap. They used Family Connections’
playroom model, added a strong literacy component, and established it at the Library
where parents and children would have significant access to books and other material
and information.
Turning the concept into a reality required time and effort. The Library offered the use
of its space, janitorial services, staff planning time, and, of course, information resources.
Family Connections’ board of trustees committed significant staff time to oversee the
project, handle finances, and supervise the personnel and planning.
The TRW Foundation funded the pilot program in the summer of 1998. Since then,
Play and Learn has received support from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation,
Abington Foundation, Thomas White Foundation, Ameritech, and Friends of the Shaker
Library. Additional support came from an Early Learning Opportunity grant, a Library
Services and Technology Act grant, and from Help Me Grow of Cuyahoga County.
Currently, for health reasons, preregistration is required to keep the group size small.
Families may register through Family Connections, which is linked on the Library website’s
events calendar at shakerlibrary.org.
WWW.SHAKER.LIFE | SUMMER 2022 19
The Play and Learn Station
on the second floor of the
Main Library has re-opened
after being closed during the
renovation and the pandemic.
Staffed by preschool teacher
Ellen Barcus, this free literacybased
program is for families
with children up to age six.
Its purpose is to help close
the school-readiness gap
among preschoolers.
/shakerlibrary.org
/WWW.SHAKER.LIFE