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An excellent idea. Give all newborn babies library card automatically, top authors urge - BBC News
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyl93…

Give all newborn babies library card automatically, top authors urge

Sir Philip Pullman and Richard Osman are among writers to back the proposal to boost literacy.
Kerena Cobbina (BBC News)

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in reply to Jules

Jules
mastodon - Link to source
Jules
• •
Muting this thread now because the response has been so overwhelmingly negative, which surprised me to be honest. Yes there are logistical difficulties with kids changing names and moving between library authorities, and yes a bigger barrier to library access for most kids in the UK is probably library closures or restricted opening times due to lack of funding. But the public library was an absolute haven for me as a child, and many schools no longer have their own libraries due to funding cuts
in reply to Jules

Jules
mastodon - Link to source
Jules
• •
There are a lot of kids growing up in care, in temporary accommodation and in immigrant families who may not even know that public libraries exist or how to register with them. Registering kids for library cards by default, rather than relying on them having an adult in their lives with the knowledge, resources or inclination to do it for them, may not be the first thing we need to do to solve these problems but can't hurt and in my opinion outweighs any concerns about data privacy
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
in reply to Jules

Jules
mastodon - Link to source
Jules
• •
The state already knows the personal details of all kids born in the UK ffs, they get registered with the NHS at birth and with the local education authority at some point before starting school. Mastodon really needs to calm down if you think getting a library card is the same as handing over your entire browser history, banking details and genome directly to Peter Thiel
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
in reply to Jules

NatalyaD
mastodon - Link to source
NatalyaD
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My nephew got a free book a month after he was born through Some Library Scheme. Before this, my older sister had not realised reading to babies is important and valuable.

Sister K was not a functional parent for Reasons but she did enjoy reading to Nephew and in her more functional moments, she reads a lot herself - always has done (confuses the F out of social workers!). One of K's local libraries knows K and look out for her as she reads there during her better times.

in reply to NatalyaD

Eleanor LNR Blair
mastodon - Link to source
Eleanor LNR Blair
• •

@NatalyaD Probably the "Bookstart" scheme?

booktrust.org.uk/how-we-help/p…

We still have Matthew's copy of Bumblebear.


Bookstart

Bookstart is designed to support families discover the magic of shared reading from their earliest days. Find out more about the programmes we offer.
William Joseph
@NatalyaD
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