Post-Summer Reading Club Blues

I know that Summer Reading Club has just been replaced by Back to School. But I still have not given my final report, still have not sent in my final statistics. And already, I am planning for next year’s SRC. Is it that I can’t let go of summer? Am I clinging to those last sunny days before the trees turn, and the evening chill becomes a day-long thing? And am I just punishing myself by thinking about SRC all year long?

In a few weeks, our annual library conference will roll around, and I will be co-leading a workshop on Summer Reading. When I was at ALA in June, I attended a great session featuring the partnership between Chicago Public Library and the Museum of Science and Industry. We don’t have that kind of museum anywhere close to us in our small rural area, but we do have parks, tiny museums, and lots of recreation departments. And so my gaze turns to them, to how we beef up our summer program and make it as WOW as it can be.

This leaves me wishing I had access to more funding , that everlasting library dream of having enough money to do what you know you need to do. It makes me wish for fairy godmothers or perhaps a sports star who needs a charity to support. I know what we can do with $2000, imagine what we could do with $50,000. So, as the light fades and the air cools down, as summer goes the way of the tide, I sit at my desk and dream of next summer, when we will once again make memories for thousands of children. Sweet, bookish memories of summer at the library.