Abstract
The purpose of this study is to investigate about how the Bookstart is conducted at the respective municipalities, and how the staffs think about the effectiveness of it and the reading for babies. In study 1, fifty-eight municipalities who had conducted the Bookstart until August 2003 were selected randomly within the Kanto region. The results showed that the Bookstart was most commonly targeted at 3 to 4 month old babies and had the various possible effective ways of the Bookstart. In study 2, four municipalities which had implemented the Bookstart in year 2001/2002 were selected from the municipalities in study 1. In the interviews for the staffs, most of them expected the promotion of communication between parents and babies as well as the utilization of the libraries with the Bookstart as a start. In the observations during the Bookstart, they made efforts to create a friendly atmosphere, and worked hard to have enough manpower and to connect with other organizations at any given Bookstart session. These studies suggested that by providing the parents a thorough explanation of the Bookstart together with the promotion of the library's services, the preparation of the place, and the time frame for each session, as conducting it in the morning play an important role in creating interest in parents to read picture books to their baby and using the libraries.On the basis of this study, there will be more substantial s tudies in the future on the methods of implementing the Bookstart and its effectiveness.
