Dolly Parton's Imagination Library of Douglas County

Locally, this grassroots effort began when a local mom found a used Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library book at a book sale. She wrote a message on a Facebook Moms’ group about starting up an Imagination Library in Douglas County, and then we were off and running! Just few months later, we obtained fiscal sponsorship through Success by 6 (now Early Childhood Collective of Douglas County and entered into an agreement with the Dollywood Foundation. We developed a leadership board with regular monthly meetings and raised awareness with our own Facebook page. In March 2020, we began offering the program to Lawrence residents and were excited to expand to all of Douglas County in May. Our all-volunteer Leadership Committee is dedicated to increasing literacy and includes a librarian, educators, students, and early intervention providers. In the first five years of the program, we have served more than 5,600 children and mailed 133,000 books. Currently we send books to more than 2,500 children with new families enrolling every month.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a book gifting program providing free books to children from birth to age five in all of Douglas County. 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. Today, her program spans the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Republic of Ireland. It provides over 3 million free books each month to children around the world. “When I was growing up in the hills of East Tennessee, I knew my dreams would come true. I know there are children in your community with their own dreams. They dream of becoming a doctor or an inventor or a minister. Who knows, maybe there is a little girl whose dream is to be a writer and singer. The seeds of these dreams are often found in books and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world.”