IT is hoped that Bradford’s newborns could become a generation of baby bookworms under a new scheme to issue library cards at birth.

Bradford Council will be issuing library cards to newborn babies in a new initiative aimed at inspiring a lifelong love of reading.

The council’s Library Service is working with the District’s Register Offices, rolling out the scheme to give families the opportunity to sign their baby up for a library card at the same time as they register the birth of their child.

Around 7,000 babies are born in the district each year.

5 fantastic pictures from this year's Baby Week Bradford

From today, families can start to register with the library at the same time as getting their baby’s birth certificate, and to encourage the use of the new library cards, a special photo booth session will be made available for families to mark the occasion.

Research shows that reading with children has positive impacts for later life including developing secure emotional attachments, reducing socio-emotional difficulties, improving speech and language development, supporting better educational outcomes and reducing health inequalities.

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Healthy People and Places, said: “Our Libraries and Register Office teams have been working together gifting BookStart Baby Packs since the first lockdown and this new partnership to help support families at the very start of their reading journeys is really exciting.

"I hope that allowing families easy access to sign-up to the library will mean lots more happy book-loving children for the future of the Bradford district.”