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 Prime Time

Prime Time

PRIME TIME is a six- to eight-week program of reading, discussion and storytelling held in public libraries and other venues. The program features award-winning children’s books to stimulate discussion about humanities themes and problems encountered in everyday life. Each 90-minute session includes the reading of up to three books by a storyteller followed by facilitated discussion with a humanities scholar. Programs can be provided in both English and Spanish and typically serve up to 30 families in each program series.

The goals of the PRIME TIME program are to:
• bond families around the act of reading and learning together
• reinforce the role of the family
• encourage parents and children to read and discuss humanities topics
• help parents and children become active library users
• highlight the important role of the library in local communities and daily home life

Each PRIME TIME session also includes a five-minute “library commercial” which allows librarians to introduce families to additional library resources including homework aids, GED materials, books on parenting and health care, computer/internet resources, and local and international newspapers and magazines. The program is also designed to include separate activities for pre-school children who are attending with older siblings.

With support from FHC, PRIME TIME programs in English have served more than 4,000 individuals in Florida since 2004. The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities created and developed PRIME TIME in 1991 and, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), expanded the program to other states. During the past 17 years, more than 24,000 individuals have participated in 750 programs in 36 states and the Virgin Islands.

In 2008, the Council received a grant from NEH to help organize new bilingual PRIME TIME programs at four libraries across the state (click here for list of current sites).

If you are a public library interested in bringing this program to your community, please contact:

Patricia Putman
Associate Director
Florida Humanities Council
(727) 873-2004
pputman@flahum.org