Project History

Family Place Libraries™ is a nationwide network of children's librarians nationwide who believe that literacy begins at birth and that libraries can help build healthy communities by nourishing healthy families.

Family Place Libraries™ promotes a national model for transforming public libraries into welcoming, developmentally appropriate early learning environments for young children, their parents, and caregivers. Based on research about the importance of early brain development, Family Place Libraries™ supports the essential role of parents and caregivers as first teachers and addresses the physical, social, emotional, and cognitive aspects of child development to help build a foundation for learning during the critical first years of life. By partnering and working with other social, health, and educational service providers, the Family Place model positions libraries as key early childhood and family support organizations within their local communities.

The Family Place Libraries™ model was developed beginning in 1996 through a collaboration between Libraries for the Future (LFF) and Middle Country Public Library (MCPL) in Centerreach, New York. Working together, LFF and MCPL developed a framework for a replicable model to train libraries to approach children’s services in a new way. The newly dubbed Family Place library program built a structure comprised of specific core elements to expand the role of public libraries as community centers and key contributors to family and early childhood development, parent and community involvement, and lifelong learning beginning at birth. The Family Place Libraries™ network currently includes more than 500 sites in 31 states.

To learn more about Family Place Libraries™, please visit the Family Place Libraries™ website.