[Libs-Or] Summer Reading Office Hours Recap and Next Up

[BERGQUIST Greta * SLO]

Hi all,

Yesterday our topic was Eyes on the Prize. You can see these notes and also some great examples of Summer Reading tools from Oregon libraries in the Children's Services Division Shared Drive Summer folder: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xxg7Ay3mjhzIA2DaBhU0SS3w22TlWrI1?usp=sharing

What's Next:

Next week, meet at Noon on Wednesday March 26th,  here's the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86446248960 - Any and all library staff who interact with Summer Reading are welcome.

Our topic is Getting Everyone in the Game - How do we expand access to summer reading opportunities? How are we working with our community to make summer reading the best it can be? What works well for your library to get folks who don't normally walk through your doors to participate in summer reading?

This Week's Notes:

Note: There's a lot of feelings about prizes by both library staff and community members. We had a very rich conversation but notes may not reflect the depth.

Questions about Prizes/Incentives:

  *   How do we build intrinsic motivation for summer?
  *   How do we acknowledge participation in summer in a meaningful way that doesn't take a ton of staff time/effort/energy?
  *   How do we differentiate for early learners 0-5, school-agers, and teens?
  *   How do we help our staff (and ourselves) practice the difficult conversations suggesting letting kids lead the decision-making when a grownup is trying to pick the prize for a kid, and the kid wants something the grownup doesn't, or the grownup wants the more expensive prize?
  *   How do we build relationships with local business year-round so it doesn't feel like a random summer ask?
  *   How do we get meaningful feedback from community members about prizes?
  *   See post here for more questions/strategies: https://fatgirlreading.com/re-vamping-summer-reading-part-two-those-darn-prizes/

Approaches to Prizes:


  *   Prize approach varies depending on library size, budget, history, etc
  *   Prize book on signup, prize book for milestones, prize book for finishing.
  *   T-shirt for participants or for youth who finish.
  *   Raffle prizes - ranges from getting tickets for # of hours read and you can submit to 1 big raffle, or to the prize drawing you wish to enter; to only entering the raffle if you finish the reading goal.
  *   Prize bin for milestones.
  *   Prize stores - earning library dollars to spend in the prize store, prizes vary from small squishmallows to board books to National Geographic kits to art supplies
  *   Top three readers in each age group get a book of their choice purchased for the library collection and a plaque with their name on it goes into the book (See picture in Google Drive folder)
  *   Many many libraries get prizes donated from local businesses, from Dairy Queen gift cards to bikes.




Best,
Greta

Greta Bergquist, MLIS, MAT (she/her/hers)
Youth Services Consultant
State Library of Oregon
greta.bergquist at slo.oregon.gov<mailto:greta.bergquist at slo.oregon.gov>  | 971-375-3549
www.oregon.gov/library<http://www.oregon.gov/library>

[Title: State Library of Oregon]

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