Governor Eric J. Holcomb kicked off the statewide expansion of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Thursday, August 24, which gifts free, high quality, age-appropriate books to children from birth to age five on a monthly basis, regardless of family income.
Holcomb announced Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library statewide expansion as part of his 2023 Next Level Agenda.
The goal of the statewide expansion is to make books available to children ages 0 – 5 in every zip code in Indiana. The program is free to enrolled children and will soon be available to more children and families in Indiana.
On May 4, 2023, Gov. Holcomb signed legislation into law that allotted $6 million over the biennium, $2 million in the first year and $4 million in the second year, as part of a community share to expand the program to every zip code in the state.
The Indiana State Library will coordinate the program and provide the state’s match to interested organizations or individuals to become local program partners. Currently in Indiana, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is available in 54 counties and is partially available in eight counties, with expansion plans to fully cover the entire state – all 92 counties. Starting September 1, current local Imagination Library partners will only pay 50% of their local program cost with the remaining 50% paid by the state.
To check to see if a program is available in your area, visit www.imaginationlibrary.com. You can enroll your child or sign up to be notified when a program comes to your community.
