Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library cut by UK council

In the UK, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library scheme has been cut by Doncaster Council after three years of funding came to end, reports the Bookseller.

Under the scheme, children under five in Rotherham were sent one free book a month. The Imagination Library began in 1995 with support from Parton’s Dollywood Foundation.

Doncaster Council said it made the ‘difficult decision’ to close the project after it failed to find alternative funding. ‘Over recent months, we have conducted an in-depth review of the literacy offer across the borough, one of the programs that was considered during this review was the Imagination Library,’ Doncaster Council said. ‘This review has recently come to a close and the results have led us to take the difficult decision to close the Imagination Library from 1 September.’

A petition to keep the scheme going currently has more than 1,600 signatures online. The closure will affect around 12,000 families.

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