Dolly Parton died on August 25, 2026, at the age of 80, but she left behinf a career that included music, acting, business and philanthropy.
One of the biggest parts of Parton’s philanthropic work was Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, a book-gifting program that provides free books to young children.
Parton’s death has raised questions about what will happen to the Imagination Library and whether children will continue receiving books through the program.
The Imagination Library is continuing.
The program was created through the Dollywood Foundation and operates through a network of local partners. It was designed to operate as a broader organization rather than as a charity that depended on Parton personally handling every part of the program.
As of June 2026, the Imagination Library had gifted more than 325 million books to children in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Republic of Ireland. The program was sending more than 3.5 million books each month.
Will Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Continue After Her Death?
Yes. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library continues to operate after her death.
The program has been running for more than 30 years and has developed a structure involving the Dollywood Foundation and thousands of local organizations.
The Dollywood Foundation provides the central infrastructure for the program, including book selection, purchasing and administration. Local Imagination Library partners help enroll children and raise the money needed to cover books and mailing costs in their communities.
That structure is important when considering what happens after Parton’s death.
The Imagination Library is not simply a program where Dolly Parton personally purchases books and sends them to children.
It is an established book-gifting system that operates through the Dollywood Foundation and local partners.
Reports from communities involved with the program following Parton’s death have also focused on continuing her work and keeping the Imagination Library available to children.
Who Runs Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library?
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was created through the Dollywood Foundation.
The Dollywood Foundation was established by Parton in 1988. Its early work focused on education in her home county in Tennessee.
In 1995, the foundation started the Imagination Library in Sevier County, Tennessee.
The original program was much smaller than the international organization that exists today.
Parton’s idea was to provide young children with books at no cost and encourage them to develop a love of reading.
As other communities became interested in the program, the Dollywood Foundation began working with local organizations that wanted to bring the Imagination Library to their own areas.
That eventually turned the program into an international operation.
The Dollywood Foundation still provides the central infrastructure for the Imagination Library.
Local partners are responsible for enrolling children in their areas and raising funds to cover the cost of the books and shipping.
Will Children Still Receive Free Books From the Imagination Library?
Yes. Children enrolled in the Imagination Library can continue receiving books through the program.
The Imagination Library sends one age-appropriate book every month to registered children from birth until they turn five.
The books are mailed directly to the child and are provided at no cost to the family.
A child who is enrolled from birth can receive as many as 60 books before leaving the program at age five.
The program currently operates in five countries.
These are the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Republic of Ireland.
The availability of the program depends on local partnerships.
That means a child cannot necessarily enroll simply because the Imagination Library operates somewhere in the same country.
The program has to be available in the child’s local area.
How Does Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Work?
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is a monthly book-gifting program for children from birth through age five.
Parents or guardians enroll an eligible child through a participating local program.
Once the child is registered, the Imagination Library sends a new book every month.
The books are selected according to the child’s age.
They are then mailed directly to the child’s home and addressed to the child.
There is no cost to the family.
The cost of running the program is shared between the Dollywood Foundation and local Imagination Library partners. The foundation handles the central infrastructure and negotiates book pricing, while local partners raise funds for books and mailing in their communities.
This is one of the reasons the program has been able to expand so widely.
The Dollywood Foundation does not have to operate every local program itself.
Instead, communities can become local partners and bring the program to children in their own areas.
Who Is Eligible for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library?
The Imagination Library is designed for children from birth until age five.
However, availability depends on where the child lives.
The program operates through local partners, which means some communities have an active Imagination Library program while others do not.
Parents in the United States can check whether the program is available in their area by using the Imagination Library’s local program search.
If the program is not currently available in a particular area, families can also provide their information to be notified if the program becomes available there.
The same basic principle applies in the other countries where the program operates.
The child must live within an area covered by a participating local partner.
Does Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Cost Parents Anything?
No. The books are free to eligible children and their families.
Parents do not have to pay a monthly fee to receive the books.
The cost is covered through the program’s funding structure.
The Dollywood Foundation provides the central infrastructure and negotiates wholesale pricing for the books. Local partners raise the money needed to cover the books and mailing costs for children in their communities.
That does not mean the books themselves have no cost.
Someone still has to pay for the books, packaging and postage.
The difference is that the cost is covered by the organizations and donors supporting the program rather than by the families receiving the books.
How Many Books Has Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Given Away?
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library had gifted more than 325 million books by June 2026.
The program reported that it was sending more than 3.5 million books to children every month at that time.
The number represents a major increase from the program’s beginning.
The first Imagination Library book order in 1995 contained just over 1,700 books.
The program now reaches children across five countries.
Its growth has also continued in the months immediately before Parton’s death.
In June 2026, the Imagination Library reported that it had passed the 325 million book milestone.
That means Parton’s death came at a point when the program was larger than it had ever been.
Why Did Dolly Parton Start the Imagination Library?
Parton started the Imagination Library in 1995 in Sevier County, Tennessee.
The program was influenced by her own childhood and her father, Robert Lee Parton.
Parton often spoke about her father’s inability to read and write and how that influenced her decision to focus on children’s literacy.
The original goal was straightforward.
Parton wanted children in her home county to have books at home and to develop a love of reading before starting school.
The first program was limited to children in Sevier County.
It later expanded as other communities became interested in bringing the program to their own children.
The Dollywood Foundation describes the Imagination Library as a program that grew from that original local effort into an international book-gifting program through partnerships with local organizations.
When Did Dolly Parton Start the Imagination Library?
Dolly Parton started the Imagination Library in 1995.
The first program operated in Sevier County, Tennessee, where Parton grew up.
The first book order contained slightly more than 1,700 books.
The program initially focused on children under five in Parton’s home county.
It later expanded to other parts of the United States and then to other countries.
The United Kingdom became part of the program in 2007, with the first UK Imagination Library books distributed in 2008.
Canada, Australia and the Republic of Ireland have also become part of the international program.
The Imagination Library now operates across all five countries.
What Happens to Dolly Parton’s Charity After Her Death?
Parton’s death does not mean that all of her charitable work automatically ends.
The Imagination Library is the clearest example of a program that has already developed beyond Parton’s personal involvement.
The Dollywood Foundation has its own organizational structure, while local partners operate programs in individual communities.
The foundation also has an established system for managing book orders, book selection, wholesale purchasing and other parts of the program.
This makes the Imagination Library different from a personal donation made by Parton.
It is a long-running organization with established partners and funding arrangements.
The program has also continued to expand during Parton’s lifetime.
That means the basic infrastructure for continuing the program was already in place before her death.
Did Dolly Parton Personally Pay for Every Imagination Library Book?
No.
Parton was responsible for creating the Imagination Library, but the program’s funding has never depended entirely on her personally paying for every book.
The Dollywood Foundation provides the core infrastructure of the program.
Local Imagination Library partners are responsible for raising funds to cover the cost of books and mailing for children in their areas.
The foundation also negotiates wholesale pricing for the books.
This distinction is important when looking at the future of the program.
The Imagination Library has always involved a network of organizations and donors.
Parton created the program and remained closely associated with it, but thousands of other people and organizations have helped keep it operating.
Is Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Still Accepting Children?
Yes. The Imagination Library continues to operate and accept eligible children in areas where the program is available.
The official program website continues to provide enrollment information and local program searches.
Parents can check their postcode or local area to see whether a participating partner operates nearby.
If the program is available, the child can be enrolled according to the requirements of the local partner.
If it is not available, parents can register their interest and receive information if the program later expands to their area.
What Will Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library Be Like Without Dolly Parton?
The Imagination Library will continue without Dolly Parton, but her name will remain closely connected to the program.
Parton created the program and remained its most recognizable supporter for more than three decades.
Her death therefore changes the person most closely associated with the Imagination Library.
It does not, however, remove the organizations, local partners and systems that operate the program.
The program was already sending more than 3.5 million books each month before Parton’s death.
That makes the future of the Imagination Library different from the future of Parton’s music career or other projects that were directly dependent on her personal participation.
The book program has a structure that can continue.
