In library work, we are about to enter one of the most critical periods of our work year. Yep, the summer.
While summer is time for beach reads and vacations and other fun things, it is ALSO time for Summer Reading. Oddly I don’t remember there being a big push to encourage kids to read when I was little…but I was a born bookworm and did not need any encouragement to read during the summer or any other time. There was almost certainly something going on during the summer in the library, but I didn’t need additional incentive to read. I read because I liked it, and I would have taken stacks of books home from every library visit whether there were prizes involved or not.
Oddly that was also a time when I would not have been able to predict that I would have ever wanted to become a librarian. Like, little grade school Kristin had NO idea what future Kristin would be up to, and she may have paid a teensy bit more attention if she had. I have zero memory of even being aware that a library was a place where a person could work. Maybe I thought that it was a volunteer thing. Maybe in the self-obsession of childhood I just didn’t think about how libraries ran at all. It was there to be used, and I used it extensively. But I have no memory of prizes being available for reading. I think I would have been baffled: why give me a prize for something I’m going to be doing anyway?
The same thing that made me disdain prizes for reading also made me an excellent candidate to be a librarian as I got older. But when I started working in libraries I was not at all prepared for all the time and energy that goes into Summer Reading.
Reader, I WAS A CHILDREN’S LIBRARIAN. I quickly understood that Summer Reading is a big stinking deal in libraries, and it almost certainly was also a big stinking deal when I was a kid. I just never noticed.
So let me tell you WHY summer reading is important as a convert to the import of summer reading programs.
It is important because not everyone is like Little Kristin.
- Not everyone learns how to read easily. Let’s face it, reading is HARD before it’s easy. Doing hard things isn’t always fun, it feels an awful lot like work to have to stop frequently to sound a word out. We know how to help our young patrons find books that are at a good level for them to enjoy while reinforcing skills they learned in school.
- Not everyone thinks reading is fun. Sometimes this is because they haven’t encountered books that they like. Many a child has been converted by discovering that libraries have books full of jokes and riddles, or books full of information about their favorite sport or animal. We want to help young patrons find their next favorite book, and that involves getting to know them so we can help guide them. Matching books with readers is one of my favorite things to do at work.
- Not everyone wants to do what they are told to do. This comes into play when discussing assigned summer reading, which feels like homework (which is the opposite of fun.) Libraries want to help our youngest patrons find things to read that they want to read. THIS INCLUDES GRAPHIC NOVELS AND AUDIOBOOKS. BOTH COUNT AS READING.
So how does summer help these not-like-Kristin youths? By encouraging them to see the fun in reading.
AND the reason we want them to read this summer? Because when a child reads during the summer, they are more likely to return to school at or near the reading level at which they ended the school year. We are fulfilling the library’s mission AND helping our counterparts in education.
The library during the summer is about making reading fun, even for kids who aren’t naturally wired to think reading is fun. We do this by being knowledgeable about books that appeal to a wide range of interests and ages. We do this by providing programs that appeal to a wide range of childhood interests. And, yes, we do this by providing prizes for reading. But the goal isn’t to bribe children to read, it’s to bribe them ENOUGH to encourage them to spend enough time reading to find it to be a fun thing to do in its own right.
If you have kids in your life and want to learn more about what the library has to offer this Summer, you can learn more about the JCLS Summer Reading Program here. If you want to read more about the importance of Summer Reading and how you might work with your kiddos this summer at home, click here.Â