Libraries in Germany – Model Projects

The municipal libraries of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and Mitte in Berlin have an innovative program for promoting language and reading skills. A series of eight modules helps children between the ages of two and twelve to get “WordSmart”.

Projects for promoting reading skills at the municipal library of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg have a long tradition. In the 1970s this Berlin district library was already working together with day nurseries and schools. Yet by the end of the 1990s it was becoming increasingly apparent that the traditional forms for promoting reading skills such as Picture-Book Movies and story-telling sessions were alone no longer effective. In a city district with a very high proportion of immigrant families, these offerings failed to answer to the needs of many children.

“We noticed back then that children were coming to us who found it extremely difficult to follow recited stories”, recounts Katrin Seewald, Director of the Else-Ury Family Library in Kreuzberg. “Too often they simply didn’t know enough words to understand the story. So we said to ourselves: We have to find something entirely new.”

The sustained promotion of language and reading skills

And they did – thanks especially to outside know-how. “As librarians, we had no educational training; therefore we got competent help for promoting language skills”, says Seewald who, together with a team of children’s librarians, launched Project 2002.

“We sat down with our colleagues from what is today the Coordination Center for Early Education and Training”, stresses Seewald. That is a panel of experts which advises day nursery workers. “Together we worked out a program for the sustained promotion of language and reading skills. Our goal was to provide children with an immigrant background and from educationally disadvantaged families with access to language and literature.”

Municipal library as a place of learning

What emerged is a program for children between the ages of two and twelve. It now has eight modules. Each module consists in consecutive events that are regularly attended, mainly for a complete school year. That promotes a sustained effect. All the meetings have a ritualized sequence. And books are always the centerpiece. “All the actions”, explains Seewald, “converge on the picture book of the day, which is read aloud at a central point in the program”.

“WordSmart” paves the way to books for children in a very inspiring manner. They are prepared for the themes and content of the picture book. The librarians take a holistic approach: games, music, art and movement make language and literature into an adventure. In the project “ReadingTime”, for instance, children in all classes of primary school work for a whole school year on one theme – for example, the ABCs, Berlin, animals or plants. The library ensures varied accesses by using diverse learning methods and stimulates the children to deepen their knowledge of the theme at school.

Imitators abroad

“WordSmart” has been extremely successful and already won awards. For instance, the project was the award winner of the 2005 nation-wide competition “Promoting All Talents” of the initiative “McKinsey Educates”. It has also found many imitators within Germany and abroad as an exemplar of “best practice”.

The recipe for success? “We’ve developed good standards of quality and we’re careful to ensure that they are adhered to”, explains Katrin Seewald. “We always work in small groups – a maximum of ten day nursery children or 15 school pupils.” Important to the librarian team is close cooperation with day nursery workers, teachers and parents. The day nursery workers and teachers have the job of documenting the events and providing parents with preparatory information about the program.

The meetings take place in the municipal library, but the librarians always visit the children before at their day nursery or school. In addition, there is a meeting with parents in the library. “We noticed very soon that nothing was going to work without the parents”, emphasizes Seewald. “But when the day nursery, the parents and the library come into interplay, they can make beautiful music together. Then we can really achieve something.”

The demand is immense

90,000 children annually take part in the constantly expanding programs for promoting language and reading skills in the Berlin city libraries of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and Mitte. But Katrin Seewald is still not perfectly happy: “We have so many requests from day nurseries and schools that we could reach even twice and three-times as many children. We simply lack the personnel and the space. I wish we could offer the program to all the groups that get in touch with us. Then we could help even more children to get wordsmart”.