| Programme name | Country | Date of information |
| Children’s Books Ireland, Bookseed | Ireland | 4 Dec 2019 |
| Question | Answer |
| About Organisation | |
| Organisation name | Children’s Books Ireland |
| Organisation address | First Floor, 17 North Great Georges St, Dublin 1, Ireland |
| Goal/objective | We strive to make books central to every child’s life on the island of Ireland by increasing children’s access to books through our bookgifting programme, developing audiences for children’s books, and supporting and celebrating excellent authors and illustrators. |
| Contact Person | Daiden O’Regan |
| Position of Contact Person | Projects and Communications Manager |
| Contact email | |
| Contact Telephone Number | |
| Organisation website | https://childrensbooksireland.ie/ |
| Organisation type | National reading for pleasure promotion organisation – we are an arts organisation and a registered charity |
| How many staff does your organisation employ? | 7 people |
| About Programme | |
| Basic details | |
| Programme name | Bookseed |
| Country/Province/City where the programme takes place | Limerick City and County |
| Year started | 2019 |
| Programme goal/objective | Book gifting to babies in first year of life, with evaluation of programme by Mary Immaculate University built in to allow us to advocate to government for a national roll out of early years bookgifting. |
| Funding sources | J.P McManus Benevolent Fund and Social Innovation Fund Ireland (SIFI) |
| Geographic coverage | a) Municipalities – 6 health centres in Limerick City and County b) Second wave of 8 health centres in Limerick County |
| Purpose of the programme | |
| Not for profit? | yes, not for profit |
| Religious or political purpose? | none |
| Audience | |
| Is the programme universal or targeted? | Universal. Every baby that presents at the selected health centres within our chosen geographical area will be gifted books, but we don’t have universal coverage of Limerick City and County |
| How many children does your programme serve a year? | 1,050 per year, with the potential to increase to 2,100 per year over two years |
| At what age/gifting period do children receive your programme. | Birth – 6 months, 6 – 12 months |
| Is your delivery model consistent across your geographic area, or are there regional differences? | Consistent |
| Book Packs | |
| What are the contents of your gifting pack? (Please provide details of books and resources) | 1st pack – Owl Bat Bat Owl board book by Mary Louise Fitzpatrick, Bookseed reading guide, Limerick Libraries flyer, Canvas totebag. 2nd pack – Shh! We Have a Plan by Chris Haughton, Flyer with invitation to storytime at local library. 3rd pack (collected at local library) – Goodnight Like This by Mary Murphy. |
| Is your programme offered free of charge to all families? | Yes |
| Partnership | |
| What are your primary ‘points of contact’ with the population you serve? | Library, Health clinic |
| Who gifts/hands-out your pack to families? | Healthcare workers, librarians |
| If your programme uses volunteers, please give more details | |
| Diversity provision | |
| Does your program include provisions or resources for children with special educational needs? | no |
| What language populations does your programme serve? | The first book to be gifted is a picturebook with no words. This was chosen specially to make a provision for parents where literacy levels may be low, or where English is not spoken. |
| Evaluation and research | |
| Have you conducted programme evaluation or research (including longitudinal)? If yes, has this evaluation/research been published? | We are in the process of evaluating this programme with Mary Immaculate University and we hope to have a robust piece of research to publish in two years. |
Videos
Videos and Powerpoints
17 Nov 2020 meeting – Progress and evaluations of new programmes
Daiden O’Regan, Childrens Books Ireland
- Daiden O’Regan, Childrens Books Ireland – Book Seed: the pilot in Limerick and its end of first year evaluation