Nancy Evans

Why Am I Here?

My library school thesis was a survey of Nassau county youth SRP’s in order to determine whether they were structured so as to reach those who would benefit most from participation-reluctant readers and non-library users.

So, I had to determine what “best practices” in summer reading programs was, based on extensive research.

History & Goals of Public Library SRP’s

SRP’s for youth have been offered since the 1890’s.

Goals-promotion of library use, encouragement of participants to read over the summer and development of lifelong reading habit.

Goals have remained the same but have taken on greater significance as the summer slide has been documented.

Reading Motivation

“If you can read, thank a teacher. If you love to read, thank a librarian.” (ALA, 2006)

We are not reading teachers. We are reading motivators.

Reading for pleasure is reading that we do of our own free will, anticipating the satisfaction that we will get from it.

Reading enjoyment is mainly determined by motivation.

Reading Motivation

As reading proficiency

increases, so does

reading motivation.

Positive reading

encounters are

important in creating

lifelong readers.

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic Motivation is engaging in an activity because you have a personal interest in it. This one is linked to reading for pleasure.

Extrinsic Motivation is reading because you want to achieve certain outcomes (a prize, a good grade).

Children who read for outcome are less likely to obtain enjoyment from it BUT extrinsic motivation is not all bad-it can be utilized to bring about intrinsic motivation.

Incentives and Choice

Incentive use is controversial and studies show conflicting outcomes on motivation. They’ve been used traditionally in SRP’s though and people (especially parent’s!) expect them. How they’re awarded is far more important than whether they’re used.

Choice is a critical factor in reading motivation. 80% of students surveyed responded that the book they enjoyed the most was the one they had chosen themselves. Numerous studies show that there is a positive relationship between choice and motivation.

Readers vs. Non-Readers

Readers

Interact around books with other members of their social circle who like to read.

View being members of a community of Readers as important to their identity.

Parents/family prioritize reading as recreational activity.

Have access to abundant and varied material and interest maintained by family as they get older

Have have a reading ritual, either daily or before bed. All of them read, no matter what. They make time for it because it’s pleasurable, regardless of school assignments and activities.

Non-Readers

Doesn’t happen.

Recreational reading not important in their family and families are non-readers.

Not encouraged to read

Family reading support stops once they start school. Visits to library are infrequent and only when they need a book for a school assignment.

Avoid reading as much as possible, even those with excellent reading skills.

Many SRP’s contain “structural bias” meaning that the way they are set-up and run favors strong readers and regular library users.

It’s great to have these kids but we’d have them anywaybecause they already use the library and love to read.

We want to attract kids who don’t like to read and aren’t regular library users.

To do this, we have to remove as many barriers to participation as possible.

What to Do

1. Allow remote registration and reporting. Non-reader’s parents may not bring them to the library to participate, so don’t penalize them.

2. Measure the amount of reading by time spent reading rather than number of books or pages read. This equalizes the gap between strong and weak readers and prevents your SRP from turning into a reading contest where weaker readers fail.

3. Don’t restrict reading choices in any way.Allow all formats (print, including magazines and newspapers; audio; and online) and genres. Don’t limit series reading (saying that can’t read more than x books from the same series). NEVER criticize their choice or tell them that the material is “too easy” for them.

"Like adults who read for pleasure, children should know that personal interest is the most important factor in choosing a book to be read for pleasure-not readability, and certainly not someone else's view of what is worth reading" (Worthy, 1996).

4. Be careful awarding incentives. Programs that strictly tie prizes to the amount of reading (ex. 1 prize per book read) turn your program into reading contests again. Kids who love to read don’t need a prize-they’ll do it anyway, so think about how you might use prizes to help non-readers along.

5. Don’t require long reviews and consider not requiring them at all or making them optional. It’s not school-it’s reading for pleasure.

6. Consider using “small wins” as a motivational tool for some non-readers and non-library users.

What About the Cheaters???

2 Words…

So What??Your job is not to be the reading police, it’s to be a motivator.

Politely inform them that you don’t accept plagiarized reviews, figure out a work-around so they don’t get all the prizes but DON’T spend a lot of time and energy on it-move on.

It’s not likely that you’ll reform this kid by making a big case out of the cheating. They may also be cheating because they’re weak readers and we want reading to be a positive experience so just deal with it minimally.

Use your energy and skills for more important things, like reader’s advisory, that might help turn a kid into a Reader.

Some Ideas & Programs to Help Attract Non-Readers and/or Have Them Interact

Socially Around Books

“Gimmicky” ideas like scratch-off tickets, gnomes, etc.

Book speed dating program

Alternate book cover program

Flashback/Back to the Past program

Book Cover Bingo

Music program

Non-Traditional Book Discussion Ideas

Board Game/Activity Book Club

Book vs. Movie Discussion

“Read-Aloud” Book Discussion

“Socrates Cafe” type discussions

Statistics and Evaluation

Don’t evaluate your SRP by numbers alone-what are the stories?

Evaluation should be ongoing-your population and libraries keep changing so your program may need to change too.

Thank you!!