local libraries are once again enticing the community to make reading a part of their summer plans.
Residents can attend a festival, walk a story walk or go to a local museum and get rewarded for it, with prizes including trips to amusement parks, tickets to see a baseball game and an end of the summer pool party.
Programs in the Johnson County library system, the Greenwood Public Library and the Edinburgh Wright-Hageman Public Library all reward readers with prizes once they hit certain benchmarks in their reading time over the summer. Libraries in the county are now registering local residents for those programs.
Local libraries plan most of their summer events around their summer reading programs, hoping their efforts will entice people to come to the library and that reading and participating in educational programs at the libraries will help slow summer learning loss in local students, librarians said.
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“Even though kids are actively learning, it is fun,” said Keeley Payne, library assistant at the county’s Trafalgar library branch. “It is not school, it is a change, it is something they can be participating in and can be a part of.”
The Johnson County Public Library system is offering readers prizes for reading books. Library workers have also set a community reading goal of 35,000 hours.
If community members meet the goal, a library prize will be purchased. Summer reading participants can vote for a variety of prizes for the library to purchase, including video game check-outs, a program series about cooking or more supplies for the library, said Sarah Taylor, programming manager at the Johnson County Public Library.
The library system is also launching Weekly Learning Challenges. Community members can participate in weekly challenges, such as attending programs and festivals at the library, visiting a local trail system or going to the Johnson County Museum of History. Patrons who complete three of the 10 challenges each week can vote for the library prize and earn coupons to local businesses.
Other library systems have had good luck with similar summer programs, Payne said.
“The library is so much more than reading,” she said.
Readers and learners who enroll in the Greenwood Public Library summer reading program can also earn chances to win a prize, said Linda Messick, head of children’s services.
People who attend regular programming at the library and who read at least five hours can earn a vote toward the library’s prize, such as a laser tag game kit or an outdoor family kit, Messick said.
Summer reading participants who read at least 20 hours will be eligible to get a free book from the library, she said.
“Our big thing is getting books into the hands of children,” Messick said.
Edinburgh residents can enroll in their library’s summer reading program “Rock to Read.” Participants who read 20 books will be invited to an end of the year pool party, said Chris Hoffman, director of Edinburgh Wright-Hageman Public Library.
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Here is a look at local summer reading programs:
Johnson County Public Library
Theme: Explore Summer
Program at a glance: Participants complete the summer reading program if they log 10 hours of reading time. Weekly Learning Challenges will earn library patrons prizes for other educational or community-centered activities as organized by the library. Prizes include coupons to local businesses, votes for a library system-wide prize or weekend destination trips.
How to register: Go to pageafterpage.org
Greenwood Public Library
Theme: Read Wildly
Program at a glance: Patrons log the amount of reading they do for prizes. A vote for a community prize can be earned by attending regular library programming. Prizes include free books for every 20 hours read and votes for a community prize.
How to register: Go to www.greenwoodlibrary.us/summer
Edinburgh Wright-Hageman Public Library
Theme: Rock to Read
Program at a glance: Readers can earn prizes such as book bags and pencils every week. Participants who read 20 books over six weeks are invited to a pool party, where other prizes such as tickets to an amusement park and baseball games will be drawn for.
How to register: Visit the library, at 119 W. Main Cross St., Edinburgh.
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