Terry Lanagan, MA Executive Director of Educational Services

Gill Graham Section Head Libraries and Cultural Services

19 Poplar Road Broadmeadow Industrial Estate Dumbarton G82 2RJ Tel: Direct Line 01389 608043 Fax: (01389)608044 Email gill.graham@west-dunbarton.gov.uk Date: 14th November 2012

Dear Parent Additional services Story Time From January, Libraries and Cultural Services will be introducing new story times sessions, specifically aimed at children from 3-5 years. These will take place at various libraries throughout the week and will involve storytelling and play. This is a new service and aims to provide a follow on activity from Bookbug, advancing your childs communication and reading skills up until school age. Please contact your library staff to register for this new service. Changes to Bookbug From January, West Dunbartonshire Libraries and Cultural Services will be making changes to the way that Bookbug sessions are organised in our libraries. Bookbug sessions are specifically designed to encourage speech and language development for babies and children from 0-3 years, through the singing of rhymes and stimulating your child through repetitive actions and games. Libraries are a great venue for this, as parents can then select books suitable for their children and continue the work that Bookbug has begun at home. To help you with this, from January, 15 minutes at the end of every Bookbug session will be available for you to select books that you might like to borrow from the library and to have a coffee and chat with other parents who attend the sessions. To enable this to happen, from this date we ask that all children that attend Bookbug become registered library users. In addition, parents are requested to register for a place at a Bookbug session: pre-booking will be required. Each Bookbug session will have a limit of 15 registered children, and parents can sign up each half term. This

will ensure that you and your child/children receive the highest quality of service and benefit. As we are introducing the new Story Times, the frequency of Bookbug sessions will be reduced slightly. Please be assured that staff will do our best to accommodate you in your preferred time slot, however this might not always be possible; we will also let you know of alternative sessions that you might be able to attend. If youd like to volunteer and start a session of your own in the library, then we can provide training for you to do this. As there may be a waiting list for each session, parents are requested to regularly attend the session which they have booked. If this is not the case and three sessions in a row are missed, staff will assume that there is no longer an interest in Bookbug, and a parent on the waiting list will be contacted to fill the place. To book your place on the Bookbug sessions in January, please collect a Registration Form from the library desk. Forms will be available from Monday 3rd December. I hope you are as excited as we are at the changes and additional services being provided. If youd like to comment, please feel free to contact us on one of the above numbers or email addresses. Meanwhile, we look forward to welcoming you to Bookbug and Story Time in the future. Kind regards

Gill Graham Section Head Libraries and Cultural Services