Planning, Prizes, and Pandemonium: A Peek into Summer Reading Prep
Category: Professional Development
May
13
Planning, Prizes, and Pandemonium: A Peek into Summer Reading Prep — With summer right around the corner, we thought we’d give insight from two different children’s librarians and how they prepare for the busiest time of year.
Are you ready for summer?
Erica: Yes. I try to always have summer planned by March. I’m not finished with all my marketing yet, but I’m almost finished. I’m ready for school to be out and all that comes with it. Kids are already asking about summer, which always makes me feel good. I love that they look forward to it!
Taylor: Barely! I typically have our entire summer program planned by mid-February and all marketing ready to go by April 1st. This year, I just can’t seem to get it done with myriad other tasks I’ve been dealing with. I’m not worried though, I know it’ll get done in time, and our community will have no idea that it was down to the wire. I am ready for the chaos and increased traffic summer brings to the library, and I can’t wait to meet new families and start their library love story!
How does your library track SRP participants? Prizes or incentives?
Erica: Every child who comes to the library and checks out a book or audiobook gets a scratch card for the day. That card either says “winner” or “sorry.” Winning tickets win an instant prize- such as candy or a book- but all tickets, regardless of whether they win or lose, are entered into the end-of-summer raffle. We separate the tickets by age group (0-5, 6-11, 12-18) on an Excel sheet and put all the tickets in bins at the end of summer and pick random winners. The more tickets you have, the better your chances of winning. Kids can get a ticket every day and some kids do come most days just to get a ticket. The youngest winner receives a 3-month subscription to Kiwi Crate, the 6-11 range has two winners since they are our largest age bracket, and they each receive a $50 gift card, while one teen winner receives a $100 gift card.
Taylor: My library uses Beanstack for our summer program and we have four different challenges based on age group: 0-5, Kindergarten - 6th grade, 7th - 12th grade, and Adults. For the 0-5 program, participants just mark off different activities as they do them which include things like read a story together as a family, go on a listening walk, etc. For each activity they do, participants earn a raffle entry for our prize drawings. The kindergarten through adult programs are based on book logging, so for each book logged they can earn a raffle entry (K-6 has different increments from 1 to 100 and 7th-adult are 1 through 10). We’ve added a new incentive, and by attending library programs, participants are told a code word that they can enter on Beanstack to earn a bonus raffle entry. We offer buttons for each digital badge they unlock on Beanstack (excluding the “bonus raffle” badges). For our raffle prizes for kids and teens, we try to do a lot of STEM/STEAM-based kits or games. For adults, our top prizes are usually our “date night” buckets, which have been things like a snack bucket for movie nights, or a basket filled with stuff you’d need for an ice cream date (minus the ice cream of course).
Number one tip to get through summer?
Erica: Summer is hard, but don’t make it hard on yourself. It’s easy to get into the mindset that you aren’t doing enough- but you are. Go into it knowing that it may not be perfect, and if you rely on outdoor space, weather can always get in the way. Summer feels longer than it actually is, and soon the back to school routine will begin and you’ll look back and know you did everything you could to make summer a success.
Taylor: Go with the flow and take time for yourself! Summer feels like a blur most of the time, and a lot of days are quite taxing. I’ve found it’s a lot easier to start summer with a go with the flow mindset because we all know nothing will ever go exactly as planned (even those planned worst-case scenarios will go completely haywire).
How do you stay organized?
Erica: I use paper calendars to track each day’s program and I check our online calendar each morning to make sure I have everything ready. I like to have the majority of prep work completed by the end of May, and I put them in folders organized by date so I know what is coming each day. I also organize my programs to happen on specific days every week, so I’m not caught off guard with a Friday teen program I forgot about.
Taylor: I plan out all our programs on a paper calendar and then pop them in to our digital calendar. All programs are typically prepped by the end of May and we keep items organized in bins by date. I check my calendar daily (multiple times) to make sure I’m not forgetting anything. Planning for summer and making sure I get all the marketing and other things done for each program, I keep a whiteboard in my office with sticky notes that’s divided into three sections: To Do, Doing, Stuck.
Craziest summer story?
Erica: Our air conditioning went out and the building rapidly became unbearably hot. We were able to move an event to the high school auditorium, but none of my messages were getting out to patrons that the event needed to move. Some of the parents who knew about the change posted on Facebook groups to help us get the word out, but eventually we sent a text message blast to the whole county. It ended up being great because we had people who had never been to a library event show up because they heard there was a magic show at the high school. Everyone had a lot of fun and got to pet a bunny! Best of all, I got out of my hot and humid office for an hour.
Taylor: Our last year offering paper logs. We planned our typical summer kick-off event like we had for a few years and were ready to sign people up as they came into the library. We were not ready for the growth that hit us that day. It was an absolute whirlwind of a day. My director and I were the only full-time staff members at that time, and our 8-hour shift flew by. We got to the end of it and realized neither of us had taken any type of break or really sat down for any part of it. At that time, we only offered school-age programs (K-12), and we signed up more people than ever before, and our numbers were just wild. We were also tracking participation by page numbers, and it was really competitive; we’d have a line of kids waiting every Monday morning for us to update standings and it just wasn’t something we were able to manage (that’s when we made the switch to Beanstack and haven’t looked back). That was the start of growth for us and it was overwhelming but in probably one of the best possible ways. I went home “people-d out” most days but also couldn’t wait to come back and do it all again.
Written by Erica Testani (Youth Services Librarian), Marketing & Communications Co-Chair & Taylor Revilla (Children's Librarian/ Assistant Librarian), Marketing & Communications Committee Member
Edited and approved by the Marketing & Communications Committee.
Edited and approved by the Marketing & Communications Committee.
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