This summer, “Libraries Rock!”

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Every summer, public libraries around the country gear up for battle – a battle against the “summer slide,” the loss of learning that can occur during summer months when kids are out of school and may not have easy access to books or other educational materials and activities.

Studies have placed potential summer learning losses from one month to 30 percent of a school year! Libraries take this battle very seriously, and spend months planning summer programs that will promote reading, inspire curiosity, and encourage use of the library’s expansive resources to combat the summer slide. 

The earliest summer reading programs began in the last years of the 19th century. They focused on teaching children how to care for books and select quality titles as well as keeping kids “off the streets” during school vacations. In the 1920s, some libraries began to promote children’s reading contests with prizes and specific lists of books that had to be read. However, it was not long before librarians and educators shifted from contests with pre-selected literature to encouraging participants to read for fun. In recent decades, adult summer reading programs were also added, and what was once for kids only is now an all-ages celebration of reading and learning.

This summer, whether you’re 9 months, 9 years, or 109, we invite you to participate in our 2018 Summer Reading Program, “Libraries Rock!”

To get started, sign up at the Jefferson County Library or Port Townsend Public Library starting June 15. Then, join us at the Jefferson County Library for our kickoff event with magician Jeff Evans on June 18 at 6:30 p.m. Or, you could attend Port Townsend Public Library’s kickoff on June 19 at 3:00, which will feature African drumming and dance with Aaron Vallat and Jill Alban.

Track your reading throughout the summer – kids and teens earn a Summer Reading T-shirt after 50 hours of reading, adults earn a t-shirt after 100 hours of reading. 

You’ll want to pick up our Summer Reading Program brochure for information on all our scheduled events: Children’s programs on Mondays and Fridays, teen programs on Thursdays and Fridays, Stories at H. J. Carroll Park on Tuesday mornings, events in Quilcene on Tuesday afternoons, and adult programs throughout the week. There are STEAM events for budding artists and engineers, an Escape Room activity, art and cooking programs, and lots of music and rock/geology events – because, as our theme reminds us, “Libraries Rock!” Jefferson County Library wraps up with a Grand Finale party on Aug. 8 at H.J. Carroll Park. Port Townsend Public Library’s end of Summer Reading party will feature games and rock painting on Friday, Aug. 10.

We know that many of you use more than one library – so we’re pleased to announce that, for the second year in a row, library staff at the Jefferson County Library and Port Townsend Public Library have collaborated on a “shared’ summer reading tracking system.

Participants can sign up for the 2018 program and log their progress at either location. Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for everyone to join in and celebrate reading, learning, and exploring at your most convenient library.

Summer reading programs still focus on fighting the “summer slide” of learning loss, but we’ve learned a lot since the early 19th century. Instead of libraries telling you what to read, we’ve learned that it’s a love of reading that makes the most difference to literacy and lifelong learning. Today, we encourage summer reading participants to read whatever they like – Garfield comics? Fine! Biographies? Great! Audiobooks on a road trip? Outstanding! It doesn’t matter what you read this summer – just read! 

And remember, “Libraries Rock!”

 

Tamara Meredith is the director of the Jefferson County Library in Port Hadlock. She is a science fiction fan with a passion for all things STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math). In her free time, she likes to travel, play music and hang out with her family.

“Books and Beyond” is a monthly feature shared between the Port Townsend Public Library and the Jefferson County Library.