LINCOLN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 

News release

STANFORD — The Kentucky Humanities Council will bring an award-winning family literacy program to Stanford on Feb. 15. 

Prime Time Family Reading Time will meet at 6 p.m. Thursdays,  from Feb. 15 to March 22, at the Lincoln County Public Library, 201 Lancaster Street, Stanford. This program is free and includes meals, transportation and educational childcare for younger siblings.

Prime Time Family Reading Time helps families bond around the act of reading and talking about books. In each of six weekly sessions, a discussion leader and storyteller lead programs that demonstrate effective reading techniques. The books introduced to children ages 6 to 10 and their parents explore issues of global citizenship — connecting across borders, alliances, and cooperation — while helping them understand the dynamics of making life choices. A “Library commercial” in each session will help families become active public library users, and a family door prize will be given away each week.

The storyteller is Yolantha Pace, and Chris Begley is the Prime Time scholar.

Kentucky Humanities Council Executive Director Bill Goodman says Prime Time will extend the council’s statewide literacy efforts.

“Since 1989 we’ve produced and distributed New Books for New Readers, which are aimed at adult literacy students,” Goodman said. “Prime Time targets young at-risk readers before it’s too late to turn them around. Homes without books are lives without hope.”

Prime Time Family Reading Time has won awards from the Public Library Association and the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities created the program in 1995. Its studies showed that children who went through Prime Time increased their reading time by 80 percent and doubled their trips to the library. The program also benefited their parents, who improved their parenting skills and, in 29 percent of the cases studied, their employment status.

The Kentucky Humanities Council is a non-profit Kentucky corporation affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is not a state agency, but is a proud partner with the state’s Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet. For information about the Kentucky Humanities Council’s programs and services, visit www.kyhumanities.org. For information about the Lincoln County Public Library, visit www.lcplinfo.org.