UAMS Celebrates Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library with Governor, State Senator, Key Partners
| A recent news conference at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) celebrated UAMS’ involvement in a program that allows all children born at UAMS to receive a free book each month through their fifth birthday.
Beginning in August, nurses in the Women and Infants Service Line at UAMS began enrolling infants and their siblings under 5 in the Arkansas Imagination Library, a literacy program in Arkansas since 2004 that supports Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which began in 1995 in Tennessee and has spread worldwide.
With the assistance of community sponsors, the program provides free books to increase childhood literacy rates, increase school readiness and foster a lifelong love for reading.
Among those who crowded into the lobby gallery at UAMS for the Jan. 15 news conference were Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and state Sen. Clarke Tucker, both of whom are ardent supporters of program, and Laura Landreaux, president and CEO of Entergy Arkansas, which is also a financial supporter of the library.
UAMS has contributed $70,000 to the program through Chancellor’s Circle grants, while Entergy, under Landreau’s leadership, has contributed through contributions to groups that help the library. They join several other supporters of the program.
Tucker said that thanks to Sanders, the state of Arkansas now covers 50% of the cost of books in the Arkansas Imagination Library.
Some of the books sent to children were displayed on a table at the news conference.
“It’s the smartest investment of public resources that you can possibly make,” Tucker said. “There is no program that we get a higher return on investment for, dollar for dollar.”
Tucker said that every zip code in Arkansas is covered by the program.
“That’s no small feat,” he said. “That takes a lot of work, and right now, we are delivering books every month to 82,000 young kids in Arkansas.”
Charlotte Parham, Ed.D., an associate professor at the University of Central Arkansas and the director of the Arkansas Imagination Library, was introduced by Tucker as “the leader in making that happen.”
Parham said the program got started in Arkansas because of the efforts of school district leaders in Independence County who wanted to improve literacy in schools.
“I am grateful to be in a state where the collective impact is real, and that’s what we’re experiencing here today,” Parham said. “We have hospitals, we have school districts, and the partnership just creates a space where collective impact matters.”
“Every Arkansan has a relationship with UAMS,” Tucker said, “whether or not they realize it. Either you’ve been treated at UAMS, or you’ve been treated by a doctor or nurse who was trained at UAMS.”
From receiving care for cancer at UAMS that has left him cancer-free for eight years, to getting stitches in his hand just a few days earlier at UAMS, Tucker said, “UAMS is a leader in health care, obviously, in Arkansas. They’re also a leader in education, and because of the partnership that we’re announcing today, it’s fair to say that UAMS is a leader in childhood literacy, or especially early childhood literacy.”
As Tucker and the other speakers addressed the crowd from a lectern, they stood next to a life-size cardboard cutout of Parton.
C. Lowry Barnes, M.D., UAMS’ interim chancellor and professor and chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Rehabilitation, was among them. He praised “the state’s strong support of early childhood initiatives” and thanked Landreaux for her support as well.
“Entergy has been a long supporter of early childhood literacy,” Landreaux said. “We champion that through our charitable supporting, but also with our employees reading to students in our communities. We do this to help create and sustain thriving communities in our state, and that is why we’re here today, providing books filled with inspiring stories.”
The mother of three said the Imagination Library “does something powerful. It promotes parent engagement from birth. It strengthens school readiness. It helps close opportunity gaps. All while opening young minds to the infinite possibilities ahead. It ensures that no matter where a family lives and what challenges they face, their children can build a strong foundation for lifelong learning and success.”
The first book that every family is given upon leaving the hospital is “The Little Engine That Could,” which Landreaux described as “that story about perseverance, belief and finding a way forward.” Parton herself has said, “I always think of myself as the little engine that did. You never know if you don’t try to get out there and be that engine!”
“Our mission at UAMS,” Barnes said, “is to improve the health of every Arkansan, and that work starts much earlier than most people realize. We’re very proud to share our involvement with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which helps children begin building a home library during their most critical years — the first five years of life. Those early years shape how children learn, communicate and thrive. Having books in the home and being read to early and often is one of the simplest and most powerful ways to support healthy development.”
Nicole Mellott, RN, a nurse in the UAMS high-risk prenatal unit.Evan Lewis
Barnes recognized Nicole Mellott, RN, a nurse working in the UAMS high-risk prenatal unit, for spearheading the effort to bring the program to the hospital after experiencing the benefits of it while working as a traveling nurse in Texas.
Tucker told the crowd that “for years, the Arkansas Imagination Library has been working with the Arkansas Department of Education” to have the state cover 50% of the cost of the books, and “the governor made that happen.”
“And by the way,” he said, “Dolly doesn’t want the states to pay for more than 50% because she wants the local program partners to have some skin in the game. So that’s the goal we’ve been working toward.”
Tucker was behind a legislative bill in 2023, which passed, to provide a funding mechanism after the expiration of a federal five-year grant in 2024. Subsequent legislation to fund the program wasn’t necessary because Sanders’ administration agreed to provide the funding.
“I was hopeful that the governor would be supportive, and she came through in a way that was beyond my expectation,” Tucker said.
Sanders also addressed the gathering, thanking UAMS for its involvement in the program and saying she has long been a fan of Parton.
“What I love is her commitment to give back and to invest in the lives of kids around the country,” Sanders said. “In just the last year, Imagination Library has distributed and delivered over a million books to kids across our state and has delivered over 200 million books since its inception. That is a remarkable, life-changing thing for so many kids in America. Nearly half of all kids 5 and under in Arkansas are enrolled in the program.”
The governor added, “That means that more than 100,000 kids have benefitted from this program in the last year, and we’re here to celebrate the partnerships that will help those numbers grow ever larger.”
She said that UAMS is now partnering with the Imagination Library “to ensure every baby born in this hospital is automatically enrolled in this program.”
Sanders recognized UAMS employee Annabeth Johnson, who was sitting in the audience with her husband, Zac, just 12 days after giving birth to a son, Jones, at UAMS. Jones arrived just 2 ½ years after the couple’s daughter, Collins, was born at UAMS and enrolled in the program. The Johnsons said Collins’ favorite book so far is “Ice Cream Face.”
Zac and Annabeth Johnson, a UAMS employee, read one of the books to their daughter, Collins.Evan Lewis