Library Outreach to Children Program 2025-2026 Request Form

Program Overview (PLEASE READ):

The Library Outreach to Children (LOC) Program provides resources to Idaho public libraries to enhance staff outreach visits, reaching those children who cannot easily access their local library and increasing the number of households with books in their homes throughout the year.

LOC requests should be submitted at least 3 weeks prior to the outreach event date to allow time for ICfL staff to put together the request, sticker the books, and ship them to the library prior to the event. If you are not able to give us the full lead time, feel free to contact us and see if an exception will be possible. Depending on staff time, we may still be able to fill your request.

All outreach requests can be submitted through this form. Please note that we close this program from June 15 to Aug 15 of each year so we can close out our fiscal year budget and restock the books for this program. Please pay close attention to the "Book Limits" section below in this application (these can also be viewed on ICfL's program website at: https://libraries.idaho.gov/outreach/outreach-to-children/).

This program is designed to support the following types of library outreach efforts:

Outreach at a public event (i.e. Kids Day in the Park)
Outreach at a school event (i.e. family literacy night)
Outreach at a community partner event (i.e. Community Baby Shower)
Outreach at a local Head Start, Early Head Start or other daycare location (parent night)
Outreach at a low-income health clinic for families (partnership)
Outreach at a WIC Clinic or other food bank (partnership)
Outreach through supporting Library in a Box or Little Library receptacles in various locations (one-time only for this type, not ongoing stocking of these little libraries)

(This is not an exhaustive list of eligible outreach events. Your library may be offering another outreach effort that is not listed here and is still eligible.)

Requesting libraries are encouraged to offer a storytime or another literacy program element at their outreach event if possible, and are also encouraged to seek out local businesses and partners to help fund additional paperback books for these ongoing and future outreach efforts.

If you are a school library who wishes to apply for this program, please contact Kristina Taylor, Outreach & Community Engagment Consultant, at (208) 334-2150 or kristina.taylor@libraries.idaho.gov, to discuss your proposal. Schools may apply on a case-by-case basis if you do not have a public library nearby, or if your public library near you cannot serve your school through their outreach efforts.

Please also consider requesting our free outreach support materials to promote early literacy at your event. You can find a description of the various materials we provide and a separate request form at the ICfL Market site at: https://materials.lili.org/

Program Requirements:

By applying to this program, my library agrees to meet the following requirements for the Library Outreach to Children program:

In-person, face-to-face outreach is the main focus of this program. (Exceptions may be made - reach out to Emily Riggan at emily.riggan@libraries.idaho.gov to discuss.)
The library shall conduct outreach efforts outside of the library walls and outside of regular, in-house library programming, going to where the children who cannot reach their local library already are and targeting the children and families who are currently not able to or are least likely to utilize the public library.
The event shall be structured in such a way that children are able to select their own books - it’s important that they are allowed this choice, as opposed to being handed a book at random. Guidance from library staff is always encouraged to help children find the right book for them.
The library shall include the sharing of age-appropriate library programming, online access, and library card promotion at their outreach event; this is NOT a general library promotion program.
This program shall NOT be used to give children at your outreach event a new book each week or each time you visit (this program is designed to support only one book per child).
Books provided through this program shall NOT be distributed via the following non-eligible events: school assembly presentations (ICfL no longer supports this method as it has proven ineffective for lack of parental contact); Dia de los Ninos (unless the Dia event is an outreach event), Idaho Family Reading Week, or any in-house Summer Reading program events.
Participating libraries shall submit a final summary report for our outreach event/s no later than 30 days after the outreach event date/s (in the case of an event series, the report will be due 30 days after the last event date). Remembering to submit the summary report is the responsibility of the person who makes the LOC request. The report form can be found on the program website at https://libraries.idaho.gov/outreach/outreach-to-children/. Please mark your own calendar accordingly.

If my request is approved, I will adhere to these program requirements to the best of my ability.*

I agreeI disagree

Please choose the public library and branch for which you are submitting this application:

If you are a school library who has received prior approval from ICfL staff to directly submit an LOC request, please enter your school name here:

Primary Contact Name:*

First NameLast Name

Primary Contact Email:*

example@example.com

Primary Contact Phone:*

Please enter a valid phone number.

Secondary Contact Name (please provide a back-up staff person to contact):*

First NameLast Name

Secondary Contact Email:*

example@example.com

Shipping Address (this address must be able to receive boxes):*

Street Address

Street Address Line 2

CityState

Zip Code

Question #1: In one sentence, please describe your library outreach event:*

Question #2: Please describe your library outreach event in detail. Provide information about the types of literacy activities you plan to provide during outreach, material you plan to hand out, planned promotion, and how you hope to incorporate face-to-face interaction with children and their caregivers about literacy and your library's programs and services. *

Question #3: Please list any community partner/s with whom you are working to implement this outreach event/project. Describe their role in this outreach effort.*

Question #4: How many books will each child attending your outreach event receive from your library?*

Question #5: (Optional) IF you answered more than 1 in the above question, where will the other books being coming from? Who/what organization will provide these additional books per child?

Question #6: Number of children you are planning to serve at this event/s:*

Question #7: Describe how/why your library has identified these children as being "underserved" or "hard-to-serve."*

Question #8: Enter the date or dates for your outreach event/s. NOTES: 1) We will plan to ship the requested books to your library so they are received approximately 1 week before the first date listed here; 2) Summary reports are due to 30 days after your outreach event/s conclude, with a fiscal year-end deadline for ALL requests by September 15 each year.*

Enter a numerical date in this format: xx/xx/xx

Book Request Limitations for FY26:

Number of Requests: In previous years, the LOC program limitations were based on total number of outreach requests. This year, to fill as many requests as possible while working with a reduced budget, our limitations will be based on the total number of books requested per library branch within the program year. Each library may request a maximum of 500 total books during LOC’s program year, which runs from August 15, 2025 to June 15, 2026. It is up to the requesting library to decide how they would like to do this; i.e. several small events, one large event, etc. If we gain additional program funding later in the year, we will consider increasing these limits. If you have any questions about this new system, please feel free to contact us.
Books per Child: This program is meant to provide 1 book per child attending your outreach event and is not meant to provide books to the same children repeatedly. Please consider this limitation when requesting your books.
Board Books: max. of 35 board books total - any combo of Eng/Sp/Bilingual
World Language Books: We also have a few bilingual books in additional languages (see bilingual request table below). Please request these as needed - just know these are much more limited in quantity and we will do our best to fill your request or communicate with you about it. Due to funding limitations in FY26, we may run out of certain languages.

If these limitations keep you from implementing your original outreach plan, please contact us to discuss possible options.

Also, if you are looking for additional options for discounted or free books for your outreach efforts, please see the list compiled by ICfL staff posted on the Library Outreach to Children web page (at the bottom, under "Documents"): https://libraries.idaho.gov/outreach/outreach-to-children/

Question #9 - English and Spanish Books Request Table: Please complete the table below, paying close attention to the table headings to ensure you receive the books you need. Use the 'Tab' key to move through the table, NOT the 'Enter' key. (FYI - the 'Enter' key submits your form, often before you are ready.) Consider the book limitations described above and an average of 1 book per child.*

Rows	English	Spanish
Babies/Toddler (Board Books)
PreK - 1st grade
Lower Elementary (approx. 2nd-3rd grade)
Upper Elementary (approx. 4th-5th grade)

Subtotal: Number of English and/or Spanish books requested in table above:

Question #10 - Spanish-English Bilingual Books Request Table: Please complete the table below. Use the 'Tab' key to move through the table, not the 'Enter' key. Please note that these books are only available up to about a 3rd grade level.

Rows	Spanish-English Bilingual
Babies/Toddler (Board Books)
PreK - 1st grade
Lower Elementary (approx. 2nd-3rd grade)

Question #11 - World Language Bilingual Books Request Table: Please complete the table below. Use the 'Tab' key to move through the table, not the 'Enter' key. Please note that these books are only available up to about a 1st grade level. Also, the availability of the books in this table may vary throughout the year due to funding limitations. We will notify you if a language you have requested is out of stock.

Rows	Arabic-English Bilingual	Chinese-English Bilingual	Dari-English Bilingual	French-English Bilingual (no PreK-1st grade)	Pashtu-English Bilingual	Russian-English Bilingual	Swahili-English Bilingual (no Board Books)	Ukrainian-English Bilingual
Babies/Toddler (Board Books)
PreK - 1st grade

Subtotal: Number of Bilingual books requested in tables above (automatically calculated):

Total number of books requested (automatically calculated - please double check all tables to make sure numbers have been entered correctly):

Question #12: ICfL typically mails all requested LOC books to the requesting library; however, IF your library is located nearby AND you want to pick up your materials from ICfL's downtown Boise office, please let us know by making your selection below:*

Please mail my requested LOC books/boxesI will come pick up my requested LOC books/boxes - please notify me when they are ready!

Next Steps:
After you select "Submit Outreach Request", you will automatically receive an email "Thank You" response verifying your submission, as well as an email with a pdf of your submitted application for your records. If you do not receive the "thank you" screen or the auto-email, please contact us ASAP so we can confirm that your request was received.

If you have any questions about this program or your request, please contact Emily Riggan at the Idaho Commission for Libraries, at emily.riggan@libraries.idaho.gov or (208) 639-4171.

Library Outreach to Children 2025-2026 Request Form

Program Overview (PLEASE READ):

Program Requirements: