Boone County children can still receive free books through Dolly Parton's Imagination Library after the country music legend died Aug. 25 at age 80.

Jill Frasher, director of youth services for the Boone County Public Library, told Fox 19 that the loss hit local librarians hard.

"We're so profoundly sad because she has done so much for early literacy and libraries in general, and that's really the heart of what libraries do," Frasher said.

The program ships a free book each month to enrolled children under age 5. The books go straight to mailboxes and belong to the kids permanently. Frasher said the service reaches families who cannot easily get to a library branch.

Nationally, the Imagination Library has shipped more than 330 million books since Parton launched it in 1995 to serve children in her home county in East Tennessee. The program now sends more than three million books per month worldwide, according to the Dollywood Foundation.

In Kentucky, more than 6.04 million books have been delivered since 2001, and roughly 132,000 children across all 120 counties were enrolled as of mid-2024, according to the program's Kentucky page. About 51% of eligible children under 5 statewide participated at that time.

Frasher described one scene at the library: children visiting the Boone County Public Library recognize a cardboard standee of Parton on display. "Kids will come in, and they recognize her and they'll say things like, 'Oh, Dolly! She mails me books every month,'" Frasher told Fox 19.

Parton died peacefully in Nashville after what her publicist called "a brief battle with cancer," NPR reported.

The Boone County Public Library shared a photo from its digital archive on Aug. 27, showing local musician and radio personality Jack Reno alongside Parton.

Parents in Boone County who want to enroll their children can visit any Boone County Public Library branch, including locations in Burlington, Florence, Hebron, Walton and Petersburg.