Aug. 24 was the official wrap-up party for the Public Library’s summer programs, and librarian Tina Dolcetti was pleased with the participation in this year’s many activities.
“We've been really growing it over the last few years, so I would say it's kept well on pace with what we had last year, if not more,” said Dolcetti.
The Library saw lots of interest in the children’s activities, especially the soccer literacy program and the new Behind the Scenes tours, as well as with the new format for the summer reading challenge.
Dolcetti estimates there was well over 200 kids participating actively throughout the summer — higher than last year, and culminating in hundreds of ballots handed out for the reading challenge.
All three age groups of the summer reading challenge saw steady interaction through the summer. Dolcetti attributes this to changes in how the program was taking entries.
Rather than running on a points-based milestone system — where completing certain things awarded a certain number of points — the Library changed things up this year with an entry-based system, simplifying the requirements needed to potentially win one of the many prizes.
Introducing scratch and win ballots was an extremely popular feature, and so were the myriad of new activities and milestones each reading challenge featured.
“We just decided to keep it simple and fun,” said Dolcetti. “Some people are really intensely interested in the gamification of things, so we had hundreds of ballots submitted this summer and we're pretty excited about that.”
Dolcetti found that comic books and graphic novels were also popular this summer, flying off the shelves and enticing young readers to spend some time with a book.
Participating in a summer reading program is really beneficial, as any librarian would agree. Just fifteen minutes of reading per day can improve your mental skills, no matter your age.
Through sponsorship and donations, the Library was also able to hand out hundreds of gently used books at each of their literacy programs throughout the summer as well.
“We've been giving out books left, right, and center this summer,” said Dolcetti. “Courtesy of our sponsors, particularly Friends of the Library because they were very active donors. . . We've been able to give hundreds of books away to kids who need access to them.”
Dolcetti and the rest of the Public Library’s staff were pleased to see their summer programs “packed full” this year, and promise to plan even more interesting things for next year’s summer agenda.
For now, fall programming is starting up and everyone is encouraged to keep and eye on the Public Library’s events calendar for more upcoming events — and, of course, to keep reading.
