Imagination Library in Custer County

Published: 2020
By Tara Andrews

In December 2019, at the invitation of Custer County MSU Extension, a group of parents, teachers and librarians met to explore the possibility of starting an Imagination Library affiliate in Custer County. The program provides a book each month to children birth to 5 years old, and works in conjunction with the Dolly Parton Foundation. By June, the Imagination Library of Custer County was ready to start enrolling children with a goal to enroll 100 children by June 2021. As of November 2020, 137 children were enrolled, which is over 10% of the children age 0-5 in Custer County, and over $21,000 was raised. The cost of the program to the local affiliate is $30 per year, per child. Through this program a child will have 60 books in a home library by the time they start school with no cost to their families.