‘My Little Library Book Bag’ for children starting school in Mayo

By Darina Molloy, Mayo County Library

IT'S June and schools and preschools are on the wind-down for the summer. If you have a child who’s moving from playschool to ‘big’ school in September, you’re probably already thinking about when you’re going to start the uniform shopping and getting the new schoolbag for all the bits and pieces.

If you haven’t already heard about it, libraries in Ireland have put together a bag of goodies for all children starting school with books just for them - one they can keep! - that can be collected at any library in Mayo.

As part of the initiative, a ‘My Little Library Book Bag’ is available free for every child starting school in 2026 to help them to prepare for this big step.

Children and their parents or guardians can collect the bags at any of the 14 branch libraries throughout Mayo.

Each My Little Library Bag contains:

• Two storybooks - they might be about starting school or making friends or some of the other big emotions that go along with this time.

• A special ‘My Little Library’ wallet, which will be perfect for their first library card - available free from every library.

• Helpful information for parents about this time - tips for conversations you can have with your child and ways in which to calm any nerves (theirs or yours!).

Book bags are available in both Irish and English.

Mayo libraries can’t wait to welcome all the 4- and 5-year-old children in to collect their book bags and begin their library membership journey.

We hope that once they visit the library to pick up their book bag, our new library members and their families will come back regularly to keep their bag filled up with borrowed books and to enjoy story-times and all the other events we have to offer at the library. Check us out on Facebook and Instagram - there really is a lot going on in our Mayo libraries for all ages.

More supports to help the transition to primary school are available on the Let’s Get Ready page on Gov.ie.

You can find out more about library services in Mayo at www.mayo.ie/library or by dropping into any library branch.

The My Little Library Bag initiative is a collaboration between libraries, the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, and the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht, as part of the First 5 Strategy.