The Daily Standard
Story Archive
In this file photo from November 2024, Zara Mazur, St. Marys, listens during a symphony storytime at the St. Marys Community Public Library.
CELINA - Just a little over five years since it began, 62% of the county's eligible children are a part of the Mercer County Imagination Library, each receiving a free, age-appropriate book monthly.
Dolly Parton's Imagination Library launched in Tennessee in 1995, and now the service works with more than 2,700 local partners, including in Canada, Australia and Ireland, and delivers more than 3 million books every month.
At imaginationlibrary.com, Parton says she got the idea for the service because her dad couldn't read or write. Still, "I knew my dreams would come true. I know there are children in your community with their own dreams ... The seeds of these dreams are often found in books and the seeds you help plant in your community can grow across the world."
The program launched locally in 2020, organizer Steve Moeller said.
"When they came and talked to me, the first thing that really struck me was the fact that by age 3, the child's brain is 80% developed. I just thought that was crazy," he said. "Luckily enough, my wife was a teacher. So we read to our kids all the time. But it just seems now, it's so sad to see these kids with these phones. The thing I like about this program is that they promote getting a book in the hands of the child early, and that really was the incentive for me to get involved."
The program came to Ohio in August of 2019 and is championed by Gov. Mike DeWine and First Lady Fran DeWine. Prior to that, the program was only available in pockets of the state, with about 13% of eligible kids having access to the program. By November of 2020, the program was available in all 88 counties of Ohio, including Auglaize and Mercer.
Now, each month, 410,000 children in the state, including 1,920 kids in Mercer County, get a free book on a monthly basis, Moeller added.
The program serves children from birth to age 5, regardless of income.
Parton's national organization covers all the overhead costs of launching the program. Local affiliates, such as MCIL, find families to enroll and handle area promotion.
Each book costs $2.60, including delivery. Of that cost, half is covered by state funding and the rest is covered by county program partners, like MCIL, through fundraisers and donations.
"Most of it in Mercer County is (funded) by donation," Moeller said.
Moeller said the county organization also works with local libraries on promoting the program, such as the Mercer County District Library, Coldwater Public Library, Rockford Carnegie Library and Fort Recovery Public Library.
"Once a child signs up for the program, then it goes into a national database and goes to Tennessee where it might take a week or two or three to get them into the system and registered," Moeller said. "Then from that point on, their name's in the database and (a book) automatically gets mailed to them."
Ohio became the first state in the country in September 2025 to allow parents to enroll their newborn in the program as part of their child's birth paperwork.
"On the birth paperwork for the birth certificate, the very last question on there is, 'Would you like your child to receive a free book from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library?' And all they have to do is check a box that says 'Yes,'" Moeller said. "They don't have to do anything else. All the information comes out off of the birth certificate paperwork."
The enrollment initiative has proved effective, as just four of the 49 families that had a baby at Mercer Health in December declined to sign up for the service, Moeller said.
In alignment with National Reading Month in March, the Mercer County Imagination Library and the Mercer County District Library will hold a joint story time at 10 a.m. March 14 at the Celina library.
Any family with a child under 5 can sign up at imaginationlibrary.com. Sign-up forms are also available at all of Mercer County's libraries.
Those interested in volunteering with MCIL can reach out to Moeller at stevemoeller925@gmail.com. Interested parties can donate to Mercer County Imagination Library at the Mercer County Civic Foundation.
-The Associated Press contributed to this report.
