Nottingham City Libraries are gearing up to provide a regular book exchange service for all Under five early years setting groups across Nottingham thanks to a national scheme.

‘Book Ahead’ is an initiative by the Department of Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) which aims to get a wealth of excellent books into the hands of young children who attend Early Years Settings.

The scheme aims to foster a love of books and stories in these very young children as well as develop relationships with under five settings and their local public library.

Elaine Dykes, Service Development Librarian, said: "This is great news and means that all under five groups - almost 200 across Nottingham will have access to a book collection. We hope this will encourage groups to take part in regular book exchanges and allow relationships to develop with their local library.

"We hope parents will also want to make regular library visits a part of their family routine."

The delivery of the books – 20 per group - will take place during May and June by library staff, with a further exchange in Autumn.

At the end of the scheme it’s hoped groups will exchange their own books, ideally by taking a group of children to the library to help with the selection.

The Nottingham launch of the Book Ahead initiative took place on Wednesday April 30th at Hyson Green Library, under the National Year of Reading banner.