Ah, summer--it's a time ripe for engaging kids, teens and adults in all types of fun, creativity, learning, reading, community, and some down time too. This LibGuide provides a host of resources to help with planning your summer program, no matter what time of year it is.
There's no right or wrong way to provide a summer program; it depends on your community, along with your library's capacity. It's scalable and flexible, and can be done in a simple manner.
The Maine State Library and the Maine Humanities Council partner to connect public libraries to summer reading resources. Together they partner with the iREAD program, though libraries are welcome to participate in any program or design their own unique theme. Orders for the iREAD manual are taken in the fall. https://www.mainehumanities.org/books/maine-state-library/iread/.
Learn more about iREAD in its own tab, and look further to find additional useful resources.
Providing engaging programming during the summer has many benefits! Traditionally there's been a focus on "summer slide," a concept in which kids--especially from low-income families--lose important learning over the summer. Recent research, however, does not bear that out, at least for the 2020's (see the Research tab in this LibGuide). There are still SO many benefits to providing a summer program at your library, though! Here are just a few:
For your community:
For your library:
The Maine State Library and the Maine Humanities Council partner to connect public libraries to summer reading resources. Together they collaborate with the iREAD program, though libraries are welcome to participate in any program or design their own unique theme. Orders for the iREAD manual are taken in the fall: https://www.mainehumanities.org/books/maine-state-library/iread/
Helpful links to the iREAD program:
Read ME is Maine Humanities’ statewide community read offered in partnership with Maine State Library and Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. Every summer, the program gets Mainers all reading books recommended by well-known Maine authors.
Hosted by public libraries all across the state, Read ME connects Maine’s reading community through shared experiences, supports Maine libraries in their work to provide quality summer reading initiatives, and elevates the work of upcoming Maine authors.
The program includes one fiction and one non-fiction work for adults, plus one for middle grade youth and one picture book.
Maine Humanities provides excellent toolkits and online author events to help librarians easily implement this program to their communities.
Read ME ties in seamlessly with library summer programs with low-lift events and promotion for busy librarians.
The Maine State Library does not partner with CSLP but your library can still participate in that program. Here are resources to get to you started:
There are many ways to provide summer programs in libraries, with no one right or wrong way; it all depends on your library and community. These programs do not need to be a particular length, be structured in a specific way, or include a set number of events. It can involve registering for the program and tracking reading--or not! Two keys to keep in mind:
Keep it simple. For the participants, and for you.
Keep it fun and engaging. For the participants, and for you!
There are many resources available to help you plan your summer program! Here are but a few:
Libraries may wish to utilize reading program tracking software to allow patrons to easily keep track of what and how much they read. These vary greatly in cost and what they provide. Here are some options (MSL does not endorse any of these options but provides them for informational purposes):
Why provide summer reading programs? Well for one, kids have flocked to your library! And that makes it a great opportunity to provide meaningful, fun, engaging programming for them, along with teens and adults. Here's some research on why this is so important. Some of it counters a long-held belief about "summer slide," a concept in which kids, especially those from lower-income households, lose learning over the summer (though there are plenty of other great reasons to provide summer programs in your library--see the Benefits tab).
