Summer Reading, and the Program is Easy

Our children’s summer reading club is in full swing this week.  With extra programs planned and families checking out piles of books, it may initially appear that this time of year is anything but easy.  Easy, however, is exactly the sentiment we want all our customers to have when they realize how uncomplicated their participation in our summer reading program can be.  We want to ensure that our customers are not deterred from participating in our club by unnecessary stipulations or arbitrary rules.  How do we ensure our reading program is as easy as possible for our patrons to participate in this summer?

Get the Word Out     

With copies of our reading record in tow, we’ve delivered summer reading logs to thousands of children at the end of their school year.  In previous years, we shared informational materials with the children at the schools but required them to visit one of our library locations to receive their reading record.  By providing the reading record to children at their schools, students share this information with their parents, track their reading at home and are eager to visit the library to collect their first prize. We know getting the word out makes the summer reading program as easy as possible for our young patrons to join.

Flourish Due to Flexibility

We know our goal of summer reading is to get kids excited about reading.  When we ensure our program is flexible, we help build that excitement.  We’ve added a pick a prize option for children who read four and eight hours, so children may pick from a variety of eight options for their first two prizes instead of the library prescribing only one prize option for them after they meet each reading milestone.  We do receive valuable feedback regarding our summer reading participation by having readers register online but have added a paper reading log option for those customers not interested in the online component.  We ensure staffers input those customers’ reading participation online for them for our statistical purposes.  We believe our program will flourish this summer due to us creating this flexible environment.

Focus on the Fun  

We want to ensure our customers have an easy time participating in our summer reading program.  While attendance at programs is an optional component of summer reading, we emphasized offering a great variety of child-centered, interactive story times and special events to encourage the greatest amount of participation.  If children enter our doors to attend a popular program, we hope they will also decide to participate in our reading club as well. The majority of our programs also do not require registration to attend. Through making attendance at our programs both fun and easy, we hope we will make participation in our summer reading club the next natural step for our families.

Through increased publicity at the schools, flexible guidelines for our club, and our focus on fun programs this summer, we hope our children and their families will find joining and staying in our summer reading club is a breeze. What tips do you have to make your summer reading program as hassle free as possible for your young patrons?  Please share your plans in the comments below!