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Summer Reading Challenge

I have served on Nashville Public Library's Summer Reading Challenge committee since 2016 and was Chair of the committee from 2019 through 2021. I coordinated the program for the summers of 2020 and 2021, which was a unique experience given the global pandemic and our varying service models throughout those months. 

Summer 2020 Highlights and Successes

I coordinated with our local public school system to launch our summer reading program early - in April. By this point, the library and the schools had been closed for nearly a month. The school system asked if we could launch our program early to accommodate and encourage at home learning during much uncertainty. We arranged for our reading logs to be printed early and provided enough so that one log could be placed in every learning enrichment packet being passed out at schools and feeding sites.

I conducted an outcome-based survey and learned how grateful Nashvillians were to have our summer reading program.

  - Many thanked us and said it was a great motivator to get back into reading. 
  - One retired school librarian praised the library for opening the challenge early to meet the needs of children and students in     
     Nashville. They said, "I appreciate any program that encourages children to read! Thank you for allowing readers to count any &
     all forms of reading in their totals. Thanks also for starting the program early."
  - One adult applauded our minutes based program because as a child completing summer reading was hard; they have dyslexia
     and reading a set number of books in one summer was not always feasible for them. Their direct quote: "It’s so encouraging and
     fulfilling to finally feel seen after all these years!"

I learned that our community loves Nashville Public Library and its summer reading program. In 2019, fourteen thousand people logged the same amount of minutes we did in 2020 with only 7400 people.

Summer 2021 Highlights and Successes

This year, the program experienced its highest completion rate (58%) since 2016.

I partnered with our local public school system to bring awareness of summer reading to their students and incorporate Summer Reading Challenge in their summer enrichment program. I provided virtual training for all school librarians, teachers, and staff to explain the summer reading program and how to embed it into their days.

I worked with our Marketing and Communications team to create and execute a marketing plan. This year, a series of articles of written and released throughout the summer. The pieces highlighted the launch of our program and targeted each age group from adults down to babies. The posts explained our Summer Reading Challenge and provided tips, tricks, and ideas on how to successfully complete our program. The Marketing and Communications team reported that those articles were some of the highest viewed for the year.

The summer reading program had more community partner involvement than in years past. Local bookstores displayed the reading logs and used our provided social media toolkit to engage with their customer base. At the end of the summer, all bookstores reported success, a willingness to partner again the next year, and asked for more reading logs and promotional material. Community centers also displayed the reading logs and promotional materials in addition to registered their summer camps in our program.
 

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