Dolly Parton's Imagination Library
California State Director
Based in California; Remote
The Company:
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a monthly book gifting program that mails free, high-quality, age- appropriate books to children from birth to age five – no matter their family’s income.
After launching in 1995, the program grew quickly. At first, books were only distributed to children living in Dolly’s hometown of Sevier County, Tennessee. It became such a success that in 2000 a national replication effort was underway. By 2003, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library had mailed one million books. It would prove to be the first of many millions of books sent to children around the world.
Dolly’s home state of Tennessee then pledged to pursue statewide coverage in 2004 and global expansion was on the horizon. After the United States, the program launched in Canada in 2006 followed by the United Kingdom in 2007, Australia in 2013, and the Republic of Ireland in 2019.
The results have been nothing short of staggering: from 100 million books in 2018 to over 250 million books in 2024. Today, the program is in all 50 U.S. states, with 21 of them having statewide programs. Globally, over 3 million books are gifted each month—equating to a book being mailed every second. Remarkably, 1 in 7 children under the age of five in the U.S. now receives a book from Dolly Parton’s program each month!
The Role:
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a monthly book gifting program that mails free, high-quality, age-appropriate books to children from birth until their 5th birthday – no matter their family’s income.
The CA State Director will be responsible for building a staff team of innovators as well as strong relationships with community partners to forge a path to early literacy throughout California. They will establish the infrastructure and budget capacity necessary for the short- and long-term success of this nascent nonprofit. Under the general direction of the Partnership board and in consultation with the California State Librarian and the Deputy State Librarian, the CA State Director will leverage state funding to establish and grow an organization that will help generations of young children thrive in reading. This candidate must be located in California. This is a remote-centered position with periodic meetings and travel throughout the state.
With vision and an entrepreneurial spirit, the CA State Director will design and implement a strategy to expand Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library across the state. A commitment to the growth of healthy reading ecosystems for parents, caregivers, partners, and the community is essential. The ideal candidate is a passionate, outstanding leader who thrives on the opportunity to deliver Dolly’s mission to deliver more books to children!
The Vision
The vision is to ensure California’s youngest children become strong readers with Dolly Parton’s monthly home book gifting program and empower families by creating opportunities for connection and storytelling in order to foster safe, stable nurturing environments for young children, their families, and communities.​​