CINCINNATI – At its warehouse in Cincinnati’s West End, the Queen City Book Bank sees thousands of titles come in and out of its doors of every month. Some head to little free libraries, others go to classrooms or nonprofits for educational programming.
For CEO Michelle Otten Guenther though, her favorite days are the days when books go right into the hands of kids eager to read them.
“We know from studies that 86% of children are more apt to read if they pick the book on their own,” she said. “That’s why we love having families come in.”
The Queen City Book Bank started nearly 40 years ago as part of the Literacy Network of Greater Cincinnati.
Its original focus was literacy tutoring for children and adults who have fallen behind on their reading proficiency, but in recent years, Otten Guenther said the nonprofit has increasingly focused on providing access to new or gently used books, especially for younger readers.
“It’s hard to become a strong confident reader if you don’t have books,” she said.
Theb bank itself took a massive leap forward in 2021 when the nonprofit was able to move into its warehouse, dramatically increasing its storage space. That’s when the storefront opened and they were able to start taking in and sorting thousands of donations, Otten Guenther said.
“We could not do what we do without the space and without the volunteers,” she said.
Much of the facility is dedicated to gently used books coming in through book drives or dropped off at the drive thru.
Volunteers sort those by grade level and genre, later packing them into shipments to fulfill requests or sending them to the storefront.
The new space has also allowed the organization to invest in new books for a curated program it’s piloting, following a few classes from kindergarten to sixth grade, Otten Guenther said.
Every month or so, students in the program can request and receive free books through the program, based on their interest and reading level. This gives them the opportunity to create a library of their own.
“By the time that they graduate from the program they will have 70 books that are unique to them,” she said.
According to the Ohio literacy report, nearly 44% of Ohio students are falling behind in reading by the time they finish third grade. Otten Guenther hopes that by putting more books kids want to read in their hands, the book bank can help close that gap.
“We know everyone’s individual reading journey is different and so everything we can do to try to help encourage each individual child, the more successful they will become,” she said.