Record growth rate for youth participation in library summer program

Washington County Cooperative Library Services By Washington County Cooperative Library Services The Oregonian
on October 10, 2013 at 4:17 PM, updated October 11, 2013 at 9:36 AM

Record Growth Rate for Youth Participation in Library Summer Program
Summer Reading Program Attracting Diverse Audience

Washington County, Oregon: The five-year growth rate (2008-13) for youth participation in the Washington County Cooperative Library Services (WCCLS) annual summer reading program has climbed to 28%; with a ten-year (2003-13) growth rate of 70%. A record 28,379 youth, ages 17 and under, participated in one of the fifteen WCCLS member libraries programs this year.

A high point of the WCCLS summer program is the results recorded by the Cornelius Public Library. The library has achieved an astounding five-year increase of 492%; with a ten-year growth rate of 171%.

According to Cornelius Library Director Karen Hill, the reason for the significant growth is the implementation of a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant that underwrites a bilingual outreach intern. With resources to send an intern or staff to visit every classroom in the community, the grant allows the library to implement targeted outreach in the community. The intern and staff are able to invest time speaking with the kids about the summer program and incentives, individually, in small groups or through library tours. In classes where students are bilingual, program materials and information are presented in both Spanish and English. For the second year the library has been able to increase outreach to the two local Head Start programs and enroll the children onsite. The grant funding supplies staffing to provide critical return visits with weekly storytimes to these sites, thereby sustaining participation and increasing program completion rates.

WCCLS Youth Services Librarian, Rick Samuelson, believes, “this is a case of a library that has figured out how to serve a segment of the community that previously experienced difficulty in accessing the library and its services.” For local libraries, it often comes down to man power and having sufficient resources to allow staff the time for return visits to schools and summer education programs to reinforce the importance and the joy of reading. With grant funding the Cornelius Public Library was able to emphasize a tailored program to overcome local community barriers. The extra effort they spent getting out into the community and connecting with schools to promote the program paid off.

WCCLS member libraries also offer a summer program for adults. The second annual WCCLS Adult Summer Reading program, Ground Breaking Reads, attracted 3,615 participants from among nine of the participating WCCLS member libraries. The highlight of this years’ program was the standing room only crowd of 565 attendees for the special author event featuring Cheryl Strayed, local author of Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail.

Planning for the 2014 summer program has already begun. On December 16th WCCLS launches the 5th Annual Teen Art Contest for the WCCLS Teen Summer Reading Program. The 2014 Teen theme is Spark a Reaction (the general theme is science focused). Teens, ages 12-18, are encouraged to submit original artwork to their local library after the first of the year. Contest rules and information will be available on the wccls.org site on December 16.
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