California Library Association: Program Report

Report on the 2009 California Summer Reading Program

Music and The Arts

Over half a million children, teens, and adults signed up for summer reading in 2009!

Our theme was Music and The Arts. Over 150 of California’s 181 library jurisdictions took part in the program, offering over 18,000 fun and creative programs to almost one million attendees.

840 libraries used the children’s Be Creative @ Your Library theme.
743 libraries used the teen Express Yourself @ Your Library theme.
340 libraries used the adult Master the Art of Reading theme.

Not all of this year’s summer reading activity took place at the library: 39 library jurisdictions took their summer reading programs out into the community where library staff provided the summer reading program to nearly 400 community groups.

Thank you to everyone who helped California’s children, teens, and adults have such a great summer!

Best Ideas from California Librarians

Printable Best Ideas Report (208k)

Here are over 150 Best Ideas for summer reading, sent to us by California librarians.

For some, their best idea was the way they chose to promote summer reading, or a community partnership they made, a presenter they had booked, or their decision to involve teens in planning summer reading.

For others, their best idea was a particularly popular program, the prizes they chose to give out, their decision to take an altruistic approach to summer reading, or the way they chose to sign-up participants.

The ideas we received are listed below, divided by category. We hope they inspire and help you!

Partnering with the Community
Involving Community Members as Program Presenters
Involving Children, Teens, and Library Staff in Planning for Summer Reading
Ideas for Prizes and Incentives
Public Recognition for Summer Reading Participants
Altruistic Summer Reading
Publicity and Outreach
Decorating the Library and the Librarian
Off-site Summer Reading Programs
Sign-ups and Registration
Reading Logs and Reading Goals
Reaching Out Beyond Children and Teens

Popular Program Ideas:

Big Kick-Off Program or End-of-Summer Party
Contests, Games, and Hunts
Reading and Discussion Programs
Craft Programs
Dramatic Arts
Writing Programs
Theme Days and Parties
Other Programs
Practical Programming Suggestions
Fun Buggy Activities

Partnering with the Community. Here are some ways California libraries partnered with their community in Summer 2008.
1. Local vendors provided coupons that the library could give away, and local business donated prizes.
2. Community members were judges for drawing and writing contests.
3. A local bakery gave out ice cream cones to kids as prizes.
4. A local children’s museum provided passes, and children’s theater groups provided tickets as incentives.
5. The Pat and Oscars restaurant provided food at the summer reading party.
6. The Boys and Girls Club, Girl Scouts, Unity Council, Senior Centers, Blood Bank, Water Agency, Air Museum, Art Museum, Baseball club all participated in the carnival: each group decorated their areas with a buggy theme and provided an activity. A local radio station broadcast from the carnival, and the newspaper provided free advertising.
7. The library partnered with the Parks Dept, and kids were given a Recreation and Reading Passport: kids collected passport stamps from the programs they attended, and participating groups, including the library, gave prizes for attendance at each other’s programs.
8. A local pizza place gave kids a pizza party after a program.
9. The Friends of the Library gave $1 to the library for each book that children read.
Involving Community Members as Program Presenters. Here are some examples of programs presented by local presenters and members of the community.

A local reptile specialist gave a performance.
Beekeepers visited the library.
Staff from the local Natural History Museum presented a program on insects and arachnids.
A noted entomologist brought a number of live insects and other creatures for school-aged children to enjoy.
A Puppet Art Theater performed “Tommy’s Space Bug Adventure."
One library hosted a Ju-jitsu demonstration.
A presenter talked about Good & Bad Bugs, brought live samples, and presented every child with a small container of about 10 ladybugs to take home.
The Insect Discovery Lab from San Francisco presented a program where children could hold some insects.
A local arts group provided a Summer Arts Workshop series for middle and high school students.
The local fire authority came and did a water safety program in our preschool program. Firefighters showed up in their truck.
And don’t forget to look inside the library for presenters: in one library, a staff member shared her 3 albino geckos with children.

Involving Children, Teens, and Library Staff in Planning for Summer Reading. Here are some of the ways librarians involved others in planning summer reading.

Children helped decorate the library for summer reading using artwork they created in storytime.
In a program called Student Friends, middle school students volunteered at the library for 5 hours over the summer, helping prepare for programs, shelf-reading, and doing other miscellaneous tasks.
Teens ordered the prize books for the teen program. The teens, when they did the ordering, chose titles we would not have thought about -- including titles that would help them with school and upcoming classwork as opposed to the traditional “prize” book.
Teen volunteers helped out with SRP registration.
Co-workers and teens were involved in the process of imagining the summer reading program. Many were involved in decorating the library, taking Summer Library Program sign-ups, and in one case, the teens even planned and implemented storytimes.

Ideas for Prizes and Incentives

This was the first year we gave out reusable/recycled book bags (instead of plastic bags) to children and teens who signed up for the summer reading program. These bags turned out to be very popular - when kids and parents saw them, they asked how they could get one and subsequently signed up for the program. As a result, 12% more children signed up for the program this year over last year.
An origami craft was given out when teens picked up their SRP bags.
We gave prizes at 25, 50, 75, 100 for JSRP. The first three were caterpillars, the last was a butterfly. Very popular!
Inflatable animals as prizes. They are cheap and incredibly popular.
School supplies as rewards: the parents loved it and surprisingly so did the kids.
Small giveaways each week so the children would always leave with a little prize to reward them for participation.
Barnes & Noble gift cards in lieu of books (last two weeks of program).
Teen finishers received $10 Borders Gift Card. We broke our last year’s numbers for sign-ups and finishers.
We gave kids a choice of prizes, so they walked away with something they want.
For the past few years, we have purchased a wide variety of paperback books for the children and teens to choose from as the final prize given for participating in summer reading. They love to choose a book of their own, and it sends a message that books are one of the best gifts of all. Our Friends group generously pays for the books.
Book Bingo for Teens: It is very easy for some teens to read 1000 pages, so we offer them a chance to play a bingo-type game where they do some reading and library related activities on their own and earn chances to win prizes. This is the second year we did it and we had an excellent response.
Teen Olympics: teen competitions are awarded gold, silver & bronze medals.
Grand prize drawings served as incentives for doubling the goal of reading a number of pages.
Teen prize-drawing for an ipod at each branch was very popular.
We bought an iPod and had participants do reviews for chances!...we got triple the amount of sign ups for tweens and teens.
Raffling a large stuffed animal to finishers (in addition to our usual free book and pizza coupon).
Wii raffle at the end of program.

Public Recognition for Summer Reading Participants

We displayed individual sign-up bug post-its with the students’ names on them.

We had kids write their names on an Ellison bug shape and put up on the wall when they signed up.
I found a Dover Pub. clipart book/CD combo with colorful butterflies--over 300 in all. I color copied the best ones, had the volunteers cut them out, and then the kids could choose and put up one for every hour they read. The kids loved it, and the library was covered with colorful butterflies that looked lovely.
One idea we use every year is to have all the children who complete the program write their name on a die-cut shape, which we then display in a prominent place in the library.
We displayed an interactive board that shows the growing number of books read, this year a total of 19,564.

Altruistic Summer Reading

We gave out framed awards for the children who completed the program. This award entitled the child to pick out a book, and the literacy program would purchase the book in honor of that child, and donate it to the library collection.
We used an altruistic approach this year. After reading 10 hours, we placed a personalized bookplate in a new library book which they selected. Very cool.

Publicity and Outreach. Here are some ways libraries promoted their summer reading programs:

Networked with local radio stations.
Promoted the SRP with puppets and props during class visits to the library and school site assemblies.
We had a staff member dress up as the “Reading Bug” as a mascot for school assemblies and at some of the programs.
We contacted the school principals and presented a puppet show skit about the summer reading program.
We worked with the schools, and a flyer with the library’s summer reading schedule was sent home with every elementary-aged child. We also find it useful to give a five-minute presentation about summer reading at the elementary schools’ assemblies in May & June.

Decorating the Library and the Librarian

We created garden hats complete with flowers and bugs for all staff in the Children's Room.
The use of themes and the highlighting of areas greatly increased interest in summer reading club.
We started with making Mexican paper flowers workshop in May, we put them on the windows, and added grass and bug name tags for summer reading kids! It looked great!

Off-Site Summer Reading Programs. For some, the best thing they did in summer 2008 was take summer reading out of the library.
1. Summer Reading at day care sites because that is where the children are all day.
2. We initiated the Outreach Summer Reading Program this year.
3. The program was adapted for an off-site location. Start With a Story is a program for children with incarcerated parents. Volunteers work with them to encourage reading and they received a free paperback book at each visit.
Sign-Ups and Registration

1. For three libraries, their best idea this year was using E*vanced solutions for patron registration, logging and record keeping.
No registration was required this year. In the past, we’ve maintained a large database of names, addresses, ages, etc, and required parent approval to participate. This registration process took many hours of staff time, and often 5-10 minutes of time on the part of the participants. Without this, our program went smoothly and staff and customers enjoyed the easier process of just picking up a log without having to fill out paperwork.
We created an access database of participants in summer reading to generate statistics.
Patrons were signed up using an excel spreadsheet instead of a notebook.
We divide registration/prizes/programs into two tracts (one elementary ages and one younger).

Reading Logs and Reading goals

We did not give out reading logs until kids had read their first books; that way we knew they were kind of committed and it kept us from running out so quickly. We also allowed teens to read to younger children.
The children received a game board to track amount of time spent reading.
Timed reading logs were kept to lower increments 4+4 hours, 1 hour bonus, to encourage the unenthusiastic kids to read.
Business card-sized reading logs were used and collected for a raffle. This way we could know the # of hours kids read: over 2,600!
Using a Bingo Card as the reading form.
Count minutes/hours read (or read to) rather than number of books read.
Rather than tell the children a certain number of books to read, we encouraged them to set their own goals.
We tried to streamline the process by eliminating an SRP completion certificate since we participate in the Round Table Pizza reading program and use their SRP themed certificate/coupon.
We simplified the reports and focused on discussion of the books.
Participants reported on the book and did not just write down the title: parents and teachers find it more valuable and support that.

Reaching Out Beyond Children and Teens

We included babies in the reading game and had appropriate prizes for them.
Youth Services team members developed a companion pre-school programming manual (using the same theme).
Baby Bug SRP at one of our locations.
Baby Program. Instead of reading, families participate in pre-literacy activities.
Having programs and reading incentives for all ages, birth - 99+.
Make summer reading for all ages.
The adults also had a program with prizes and a weekly drawing.
Parent Reading Program: parents registered and committed to read one book a week in our parents’ collections (both English & Spanish). Parents earned a grand prize raffle ticket for each book read, and when they finished all 7 required books, they were invited to the Pizza Party. Several grand prizes were drawn, among them a brand new computer donated by a local merchant. We definitely will continue this program next year.
We had parents participate with their kids during all activities.
If you offer SRP for all ages (babies through adults), have one station for signups so the whole family can sign up together.

Popular Program Ideas

Big Kick-Off program or End-of-Summer Party

Many of the parties and programs we heard about were carnival-like. Activities included bands playing, face-painting, performers, a family picnic, a scavenger hunt, a book festival, a dunk-the-librarian booth, a rock climbing wall, a giant slide, a bounce house, DDR, Wii, balloon animals, game booths, food booths, raffle, board games, DJ, and prize drawings. Most events included a combination of several of these activities.

Contests, Games, and Hunts

Treasure Hunt - clues took kids throughout the library to areas where they will need to find information for the coming school year.
“Name That Bug” game: kids identified 10 bugs from pictures on the wall, they filled out a game card and received a small prize for participating. Nearly 300 kids participated, it was easy, added to the library’s decorations, and was fun.
Riddle of the week for kids: they solve a riddle in code and win a small prize. It encourages them to visit the library each week, and gives them the chance to improve their reading skills and have fun. We have done this for 6 years now and the children really look forward to it.
SRP theme photo contest.
The “Registration Nametag Bugs” is one good idea. Participants received a printed bug that they could decorate by coloring, drawing on a face, or even placing a photo of their face on the bug. Participants would return the bug in the registration booth, and would return to the library to locate their bug being displayed somewhere in the Children’s Library. It was like a “Finding Treasure” game each time they came to the Library, because their bug might have found a new home site again.
Every year, the libraries hide a character in the children’s room, e.g. “Fly Guy”, and move him each week to a different location. Children find him and get a small prize (bookmark, sticker), and in the process they learn about the different areas of the library because they need to describe where the character is located.
Guessing the number of bugs in our display.
Daily clue to find the hidden beetle to win a book.
A scavenger hunt.
Our Find the Hidden Book contest, which ran for five weeks during the height of the SRP: each day a gift-wrapped book was hidden in the stacks of the children’s area. The first child to find the book received a prize.
The Reading Game: participants read a certain amount of time to earn a spin of the dial. This year, the spin entitled them to stamp a character on the Bingo Board. This adds an element of chance and play to the process.
Inviting the teens to complete a bingo-type program where they choose to read a book, listen to a book, view a movie of a book, and check out different genres, etc.
All the crafts were fun, but I think the games were enjoyed by all. They laughed and were able to learn that learning can be fun. They now know that metamorphosis can be just a simple change, like a new hair cut.

Reading and Discussion Programs

Book-to-movie discussions for older children and teens.
Teen reading club / Middle school book club.
A reading-buddy program.
A recommendation table where kids could put books they recommended for others, and where they could take a recommended book.
Each week of the reading club had a theme, and special credit was given to those who read a book on that theme. i.e. animals, mystery, sports, etc.

Craft Programs

The most fun activity was making a bug-themed poster. Using foam shaped insects, children spelled out, “Catch the Reading Bug.” This activity taught them social skills, without them knowing it because they needed to work as a team.
A tie-dying activity let the teens experiment with colors, be creative, allowed them to socialize, and most of all, have fun while learning.
A cartoon-drawing workshop, followed by drawing and writing contests.
A D.I.Y. (design it yourself) arts and crafts program for school-aged children.
A craft day instead of a performer: we bought 100 canvas white cloth bags and fabric markers, and the kids made their own book bags. It was half the cost of our performers, $200.00 for the supplies, and we ran the program from 1-5. We also worked with a local bakery and gave out ice cream cones to kids as a prize.
Prepackaged crafts.
We made coloring sheets to give out each week, using the graphics from SRP manual.
A free form art activity for the final program.
Coloring sheets off the CD were a good fit with children.
Henna demonstration program for teens.
Art show presenting the various projects throughout the program.

Dramatic Arts

The summer project of the Berkeley Teen Playreaders: 65 kids participated in this project. The kids practiced and prepared a play for 10 hours a week, and culminated in a performance to 175 people.
Readers Theater.
Summer Puppet Club.

Writing Programs

A new, intensive teen writer’s workshop was offered this year. This 6-week course afforded participants the opportunity to create their own pieces while learning different writing techniques from some well-known teen authors (Jay Asher, Cecil Castillucci, Stephanie Hemphill). While we have offered writing workshops before, this was the first one that extended over a significant portion of time with the same teens in attendance.
Haiku-writing.

Theme Days and Parties

Ice cream day.
Watermelon Day.
Themed reading parties, such as popcorn or pajamas parties.

Other Programs

The annual Library Sleepover.
Costumes: children were dressed in Bug costumes.
Book Masquerade.
Try It @ Your Library programs for teens.
Non-book activities: As part of our program we ask participants to complete a number of activities which encourage them to use a variety of library resources. The activities include: listening to an audio book, watching a DVD based on a book, listening to music CD, reading an article from a website, attending a program, posting a book review on the Summer Reading blog, completing a puzzle or coloring sheet, answering a weekly bug question or listening to a story from an on-line story site found on our web page. Two book related activities that they could choose were to read a book from the Buggy Bibliography and to read a non-fiction insect book.
Weekly activity packets.
Pajama storytime -- bedbugs program.
We participated in the Palm Springs Short Fest film program. Short, animated films by noted film makers were shown to a mixed-audience.
Iron Chef Competition.

Practical Programming Suggestions

Keep crafts simple.
Keep programs to one hour or less.
For a money-saving idea, consider booking performers for related children’s and teen programs, e.g., our teen program used one of the children’s program performers (a magician) to do a “how to do it” magic show that was well-received. It saved $$ to book it this way.
Consider the best place for the program, and the best time for your attendees: we moved our programs outdoors to help celebrate the bug theme (and accommodate the large crowds!). One weekend program was changed to weekday. In one library, outdoor stroller parking was assigned for performance events: this allowed them to maximize their audience space.
Mix big special programs with small arts and crafts classes.
Try a Summer Reading Camp. Interested customers could visit one of our facilities on a certain day of the week, and get an hour-long story, craft and art special time. By calling it a “camp”, it appealed to people who would normally send their kid away, but perhaps because of budget constraints weren’t able to this year.
Staff presenters traveled to several sites for programs.
This year we had a Summer Reading blog with themed postings divided among the children’s staff. It was very fun to watch it develop.
We carried out a qualitative survey to gauge how to improve the program.
We created reading stations at each library for “buggy reading.”
We began each program with the song “The Ants go marching.” We would sing to five. This gave the latecomers a chance to straggle in. We also ended each program with the song. In this way, the children always knew when the program started and when it was over. Plus they got really good at singing that song!
If you have a grand prize drawing at the end of summer reading, offer extra entries for customers who attend the programs.
We were concerned because this year we didn’t have enough room in the library to hold our large programs (we expanded our shelving and filled up all the free space in our one large room) and had to hold them across the parking lot in an auditorium at the civic center; in order to get people back to the library, we passed out raffle tickets at the program and told people they had to put them in the raffle box back at the library in order to be included; we set a deadline for them to do so; and we displayed the prize each week (which was tied in some way to each week’s program) in our glass display case to generate buzz. This stratagem worked well to entice people back to the library after the programs.

Fun Buggy Activities

A bug hunt in the park.
Lots of creepy crawly cuisine, including chocolate cockroaches and worms in dirt.
Ant farms, butterfly gardens and other bug habitats in the library.
Camouflage caterpillars in the library garden.
Build a bug.
Mystery bug contest.
Worm parade.
Caterpillar progress trackers.
Beekeepers at the library.
Ugly bug and butterfly ball.
Super science Saturdays.
Transformed tales (an altered book activity).
Guess the number of bugs in the jar.
Food Fear Factor.
An ant trail leading the way from the sidewalk to the library.
Spider’s eye-view puppet program.
Metamorphosis of a clay pot into wind chimes.
A bingo-style game named BUG-OH.
A beehive wall display.
And finally... one library’s program was sponsored by a local pest control company!

The California Summer Reading Program is a project of the California Library Association, supported by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.

Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) is the sponsoring organization for the 2010 Summer Library Program. Artwork is for use by CSLP members only. Copyright 2009-2010 by Highsmith Inc. All rights reserved. No images may be reproduced without written permission.