In 1996, Dolly Parton began a program in her hometown of Sevier County, Tennessee. Every month, she mailed an age-appropriate book to every child under age 5 in her community. When a child turns 5, they receive their final book, Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come.

This program has been expanded to include other communities across the United States. In order for a community to participate, the community must provide funding for books and mailing, engage in program promotion, and strive to register all preschool age children in their community. The Dollywood Foundation manages the delivery of books to the registered children’s homes.

Books are tailored to be age appropriate and promote certain themes. For example, books delivered to two year olds incorporate body awareness, repetition and predictability to help support language development, and motor skills.

The goal of this program is to promote children's imagination, and to nurture children's aspirations and dreams for the future.

At the end of 2009, 1,086 communities were participating in the imagination library in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In 2009, 6.2 million books were distributed, bringing the overall total number of books administered through the program to 23 million.