Washington state's public libraries are well on their way to becoming national leaders in early learning, especially early literacy, for children from birth through age five.

Before she arrived at the University of Washington Information School in January, Dr. Eliza Dresang, Beverly Cleary Professor for Children and Youth Services, visited with the five library systems around the state that contributed to her endowed professorship. She was surprised to hear the same resounding request.

"They all told me they were interested in early learning, in forming partnerships with other community agencies and in ways to assess their successes," said Dresang.

She submitted a proposal to the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) for a highly competitive National Leadership Grant in collaborative planning. To meet the February deadline, librarians around the state helped her coordinate the effort and collected 17 letters of support.

"It was a miracle, really," Dresang said, "the way it came together."

At the end of September, Dresang and her growing cadre of librarian supporters learned she had been awarded an IMLS grant of more than $92,000, with a matching amount from partners (most in donations of time, facilities, etc.) that exceeds $57,000, for Project VIEWS: Valuable Initiatives in Early Learning that Work Successfully. Its purpose is to create a plan that ultimately extends Washington's successful early learning services and partnerships to serve as a model for the nation's public libraries to lead early literacy initiatives. A planning grant carries a commitment to apply for another grant to carry out the actual project.

It's a collaboration of the UW iSchool, Florida State University College of Communication and Information (where Dresang spent 14 years on the faculty and the development of core knowledge assessment tools for early learning providers is underway), the Washington Early Learning Public Library Partnership of 25 urban, suburban and rural library systems and Washington's Foundation for Early Learning.

Erin Okuno, the foundation's program manager, said the IMLS grant is a huge step toward developing an even stronger statewide system for early learning.

Pierce County Library System Executive Director Neel Parikh noted, "Eliza's commitment to early learning research matches well with the goals of public libraries in Washington."

Washington's big investment in early learning is not something Susan Hildreth has seen in many other states.

"In particular, Dr. Dresang's work on developing assessment methods is of great interest to the library community," said Hildreth, City Librarian at the Seattle Public Library and member of the iSchool's Master of Library and Information Science Advisory Board.

"I'm very optimistic we will enhance the programs in Washington, develop a model for early learning initiatives nationwide and infuse more about this into the iSchool curriculum," Dresang predicts.