The Harvard Family Research Project separated from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to become the Global Family Research Project as of January 1, 2017. It is no longer affiliated with Harvard University.

Terms of Use ▼

• Permission to Use Materials: In consideration for your agreement to the terms and conditions contained here, the President and Fellows of Harvard College, c/o the Harvard Graduate School of Education, grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to access and use Harvard Family Research Project publications hosted on the Global Family Research Project Site.
• User may download material from the Site only for User's own personal, non-commercial use. User may not otherwise copy, reproduce, retransmit, distribute, publish, commercially exploit or otherwise transfer any material. The burden of determining that use of any information, software or any other content on the Site is permissible rests with User.
• User will seek permission or licensing for any commercial use requests from the Harvard Graduate School of Education Office of Sponsored Projects.

• Home
• Research Areas
  • Complementary Learning
  • Family Involvement
  • Out-of-School Time
  • Early Childhood Education
  • Evaluation
  • Other Research Areas
• Publications & Resources
  • Search Publications
  • Browse Our Publications
  • Publications Series
  • Copyright and Reprint Permissions
• HFRP News
  • News & Announcements
  • Blog: New Directions in Family Engagement
  • In the Media

• Complementary Learning
• Family Involvement
  • Overview
  • Professional Development
  • Informing Family Engagement Policy
  • FINE: Family Involvement Network of Educators
  • Projects
  • Publications & Resources
• Out-of-School Time
• Early Childhood Education
• Evaluation
• Other Research Areas

• Large text size
• Normal text size
• Small text size

Today’s library is a modern, evolving community space of education and support, a place where families can participate in learning activities with their children, access valuable information, secure passes to local museums, and connect with other families and community organizations. We are pleased to share several resources on libraries where learning actively occurs for the whole family. 

• Libraries are spaces of creativity. Project-based and interest-based learning are especially fertile grounds for exploring and creating, and the library is the perfect space to discover the possibilities. The School Library Journal reports that school libraries are prime locations for maker spaces. Teachers and librarians team up to guide students in their explorations and creative problem solving, as students design, tinker, and construct with materials and technology.

• Libraries address educational achievement gaps by promoting early literacy. The Maryland Library Partnership project is an exciting example of how libraries create warm, welcoming environments for families with young children. The project links families to literacy-building resources and activities through Every Child Ready to Read @ your library, an evidenced-based literacy curriculum. The curriculum grew from a 10-year study comparing two libraries in Philadelphia, and found disparities in learning and information accumulation associated with class and income.

• Libraries respond to families’ and communities’ changing needs. Communities value their libraries because they offer access to information, build community, and promote the transmission of stories and literacy. Moreover, libraries (and museums) are important resources for families to address their growing digital needs, as they are trusted institutions that provide free public-access computer and Internet usage, with a wide variety of resources, expertise, and connections to community resources.

• Libraries connect people to resources, inside the library and out. Libraries support anywhere, anytime learning, because children―indeed, all of us―learn in all sorts of ways and in all sorts of venues, not just in school. For example, at various branches of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, teens can make robots or work with local musicians; staff at the library refer interested families to the nearby MAKESHOP at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh.

• Librarians are information and education brokers. In the children’s book Tomás and the Library Lady (Tomás y la señora de la biblioteca), Tomás, a Mexican American child of migrant farm workers, discovers the joy of sharing stories―at home with his grandfather and at the local library with the librarian. Pat Mora, the author of Tomás, spoke with Harvard Family Research Project, and shared her observations and ideas about engaging with families who may not be print literate, are bilingual, or for whom English is not the primary language.

September Is National Library Card Sign-Up Month. A library card is a passport to a world of information, resources, and learning, and it’s typically free to those who live within the service area!