Adult Summer Reading Program Resources
Here you will find information to help you plan and prepare for your adult summer reading program. For programming resources relating to this year’s summer reading theme, please see the Adult Programs page.
Resources At-a-Glance
- Quick tips for presenting your first adult summer reading program
- Why present an adult summer reading program?
- Planning and preparation
- Developing community partnerships
- Programming ideas
- Marketing your adult summer reading program
- Make your summer reading program a summer reading contest
- What are other people doing?
Quick tips for presenting your first adult summer reading program
Plan ahead
Once you decide to present an adult summer reading program, sit down with key
staff and make a plan. Think about the goals and outcomes you would like to
achieve, and make a budget and an action plan. For tips on making a plan, see
our planning and preparation section. Involve youth services staff who can give
you advice based on their experience of presenting children’s and teen summer
reading programs.
Communicate
Make sure that staff, volunteers, and anyone else involved in the program know
about your plans, and are kept up-do-date with how the program is progressing.
Give people the opportunity to contribute to the program’s development and
listen to their feedback. This way, everyone feels involved, and everyone has
the opportunity to benefit from the program.
Think about how you will promote the program to your patrons. You can use the summer reading program to promote the library and reach out to the community. Go out and tell everyone about the library’s great new program!
Involve partners
Work with the community partners you already have, and take this opportunity to
make new partnerships. Partners can promote the program to their constituents,
and can provide prizes and incentives. Ideas for prizes include gift baskets,
coupons for the local coffee shop, tote bags, and movie tickets.
Keep it simple
Many adults won’t have time to read lots of books during the summer, so make it
easy for people to take part. Consider weekly drawings for prizes and enter
people into the drawing each time they read a book. This way, even people who
only read one or two books feel involved, and those who read a lot have a lot
more chances to win! The Washington-Centerville Public Library used this idea
and found that it led to a
great way to market the program, with library staff
asking patrons, do you have time to read just one book in the next eight weeks?
Have fun
Use the CSLP summer reading graphics to illustrate your flyers, bookmarks,
website and more!
Present some fun programs and activities that tie in with your theme. Think about programs such as a family scavenger hunt, a movie night for adults, a quiz night, or an end-of-summer ice-cream social.
Remember to decorate the library in celebration of the summer reading theme!
Get feedback
To improve your program for next year, ask patrons and staff what they liked,
what they didn’t like, and what the library could have done better. Also ask
your partners how you can improve and develop your relationship with them in the
future. Click here for a sample feedback form for patrons that has been
developed by the County of Los Angeles Public Library’s summer reading task
force.
Why present an adult summer reading program?
Adult summer reading programs benefit patrons, the library, and library staff. At the 2008 CLA conference, Mathew Rose, Barbara Nightingale, and Cindi Apodaca of the County of Los Angeles Public Library, gave a presentation on adult summer reading programs. In their presentation, they outlined the benefits of their adult summer reading programs.
- For patrons: the programs help parents model good reading behavior for their children; enable adults to expand their reading horizons; and provide fun, free entertainment for the public
- For the library: the programs create positive publicity for the library; they can be used to promote other library services and programs; they increase foot traffic and circulation in the library; and they remind people that libraries are vital to the community.
- For staff: the programs help library staff develop their skills, their relationships with co-workers and volunteers, and their relationships with community groups and other programming partners; they enable staff to get to know their patrons better; and they give staff the opportunity to have fun!
Planning and preparation
Colleen Knight, Adult Services Coordinator for Bartow County Library System, Cartersville, GA, has written a great guide to adult reading incentive programs. It covers such topics as: reasons for hosting a reading incentive program; programming on a budget; making it easy for patrons to participate; and finding presenters. The guide also includes many practical resources such as sample donation letters, a planning timeline, and a bibliography.
The Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives has developed a useful checklist for planning and preparing a children’s summer reading program that can easily be adapted to help you prepare for your adult summer reading program.
Developing community partnerships
Community partners can help you promote your adult summer reading program, provide resources you don’t have, and become an important friend to and advocate for the library. See our information on developing community partnerships for a guide to choosing and working with community partners.
Programming ideas
The ALA website has sample adult programming ideas that will showcase your library, and ideas and models for serving the impaired elderly. For programming ideas that are specific to this year’s theme, please see our Adult Programs page.
Marketing your adult summer reading program
The MLS: Marketing Library Services newsletter has an article featuring some tried and tested ideas for marketing your adult reading programs to the public. The featured libraries found that: easier rules led to more readers; it’s important to promote the program outside the library; and a winter reading program can work as well as a summer one!
Make your adult summer reading program a summer reading contest
UC San Diego has held an Annual Summer Reading Contest for adults since 2004. Visit their website to see their contest rules, prizes, and sponsors. Their contest categories include most books read by an individual, most books read by a team, most creative review, and most humorous review.
What are other people doing?
Get ideas from summer reading programs held at other public libraries!
Brooklyn Public Library (New York)
Farmington Public Library (New Mexico)
Orange County Library System (Florida)
Seattle Public Library (Washington)
Springfield City Library (Massachusetts)
Tempe Public Library (Arizona)
Wichita Falls Public Library (Texas)
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.