UAMS Launches Imagination Library for Parent-Child Bonding, Literacy
| New parents at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) are leaving the hospital with more than just a newborn. They are taking home the gift of reading.
Starting in August, UAMS nurses in the Women and Infants Service Line began enrolling infants and their siblings under the age of five in Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Regardless of family income, registered children receive a free, age-appropriate book by mail every month until their fifth birthday.
Nicole Mellott, RNIV, a nurse working in the high-risk perinatal unit, spearheaded the effort to bring the program to UAMS. She first encountered the Imagination Library while working as a travel nurse in Amarillo, Texas, and saw an opportunity to make a lasting impact on Arkansas families.
“In my traveling nursing experience, I was introduced to the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program,” Mellott said. “I was so excited about it. That was the first thing I brought up to our manager at the time. I told her about the program. I have been working on it for about two and a half years to finally get it approved.”
After registration, families receive a registration form and a brochure explaining the program upon discharge. To get them started immediately, UAMS provides a hardbound copy of the classic “The Little Engine That Could” as a welcome gift.
Nicole Mellott, RN, right, and Heather Moya, RN, stand to either side of a poster in the UAMS Medical Center promoting the Imagination Library.
Mellott says the response from families has been overwhelmingly positive, though some are surprised that such a valuable resource is provided at no cost.
“Everybody is so excited,” Mellott said. “We explain it to parents when they first come up to the unit, and they say, ‘Oh, my goodness.’ This is a free program. The books are very well thought out and selected, and as the child grows, so do the books. It is really exciting. Then when they turn 5 years old, they get a book about going to kindergarten as their last book.”
For new mother Audrey Mosson, whose first child was born at UAMS on Dec. 3, the program offers a welcome support system. She signed up immediately when a nurse approached her about the subscription.
“I think the program is a great thing because most people can’t afford to go out and get books,” Mosson said. “To get a book just directly sent to you once a month, that is great.”
Beyond the financial benefit, the program aims to encourage developmental growth and emotional bonding between parents and children. Mosson recalls her own grandmother reading Bible stories to her as a child and hopes to replicate that experience with her daughter.
“I would like for her to have a certain development of her mind,” Mosson said. “It is about learning and bonding.”
Mellott shares that sentiment. She recalls her own mother, who was an avid reader, taking her to the library weekly and reading classics like “Charlotte’s Web” to her at night. She hopes the Imagination Library will help a new generation of Arkansas children form similar attachments to reading.
“That smell of books. I can’t get that smell out of my mind. It is such great memories,” Mellott said. “I am just hoping that we can inspire our children to have the same kind of memories. Statistics and research show even reading to your child, talking to your child, and singing to your child is so behaviorally and developmentally therapeutic. It definitely has a huge impact even in the womb and at an early age.”
Through this initiative, UAMS aims to support literacy and family health long after patients leave the hospital.
“It is so exciting to be inspired to read,” Mellott said. “That was Dolly Parton’s passion, the inspiration of reading and helping with illiteracy around the country.”
After establishing the Imagination Library in 1995, Dolly Parton’s book gifting program grew quickly. The first books were only distributed to children living in Sevier County, Tennessee, where Parton grew up. By 2024, one in seven children under the age of 5 in the United States received a book in the mail each month from the Imagination Library.