by Sarah Statz Cords

Well, it’s about that time of year again, when librarians’ and library workers’ thoughts turn to one thing: Summer Library Programs.* Is your library gearing up for an onslaught of juvenile readers, rushing in to tell you how much they’ve read in exchange for stickers and other prizes?

But ever since reading Emma Walton Hamilton’s great book Raising Bookworms, which strongly advocated that parents who wanted their children to be readers must be readers themselves, I have been worrying more and more that we aren’t doing enough to encourage adults to read. I’m also concerned when I read articles like the one Cindy posted in this week’s RA Run Down, in which independent booksellers are frustrated because everyone is buying what books they do read in grocery stores and superstores, where only a very small variety of huge bestsellers are available. In the age of the “long tail,” why are readers only interested in the biggest of bestsellers?

Of course I am also aware that all library staff are doing more with less, so I wondered if it might be helpful to ask for adult reading program ideas in our comments here. Has anyone run a successful Adult Summer Reading Program? What ways might you suggest that we get adults excited about reading again? Any special summer displays or events you’re planning? Do let us know–we’d love to talk about it!

*Now, I know, not everybody’s thoughts turn to these programs as enthusiastically as others’, but I think we can all agree that kids reading is a great thing and leave it at that.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 at 10:20 am and is filed under A Closer Look, Reading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.