Story provided by Stillwater Public Library
Imaginations take flight at the Stillwater Public Library during the 2020 Summer Reading Program, “Imagine Your Story.” Readers of all ages can sign up and take part in a newly designed virtual summer reading program focused on fairy tales and mythology. Offering reading incentives, creative challenges, and specially designed badges, “Imagine Your Story” will have participants reading, moving, thinking, and having fun. Registration begins June 1, with reading challenges and online activities running through July 31.
“The Summer Reading Program will look different this year,” said Library Director Stacy DeLano. “We will not be able to have in-person programs, but we’ve done a lot of reimagining to make things fun and to create opportunities to keep our community reading, learning, and connected. Best of all, you can earn cool buttons and badges!”
Digital badges will be awarded for completing challenges such as reading books in a particular category, like fairy tales or biographies, and completing activities like having a screen-free day or listening to an audiobook. Along with digital badges, participants can earn a lanyard with physical buttons for meeting reading goals and completing themed activities.
Every two weeks, the library will release a new themed challenge. Themes focus on topics like arts, fitness, creativity, and history. Specific activities and actions will need to be completed to earn the button. By the end of the summer, readers will have the opportunity to collect up to 10 buttons for their lanyards, which will be available for pickup at the end of the program.
The library will still have grand prize drawings for kids, teens, and adults this summer.
“We’re grateful to the Friends of the Library who make all of our programming possible, including summer reading programs,” DeLano said. “Thanks to the Friends, one lucky reader from each age group will win a $100 gift card to a local business of their choice.”
To deliver the digital badges and to keep track of challenges, the library is using BookPoints, an online platform developed especially for library summer reading programs. BookPoints allows participants to log the amount of time they spend reading, track their books, the activities they have completed and the buttons and digital badges they have earned. The program also has a family registration feature that makes it easy for parents to enter reading time and claim badges for all household members.
The library began redesigning the summer program to help ensure community member’s health.
“BookPoints offers a new way to deliver the reading and activity components of Summer Reading while keeping our community and staff safer and healthier,” DeLano said. “While it isn’t the program we’re used to having, it gives us the opportunity to test a really fun concept. If the badging system is popular, it will be an excellent addition when we return to a more traditional model. We’re excited and hope your family will be too.”
Sign-up for “Imagine Your Story” starting June 1 by visiting http://library.stillwater.org/summer_@_your_library.php. For additional information or to get help with registration or using BookPoints, call the Help Desk at (405) 372-3633 x8106, send the library a message on Facebook or email [email protected].
The Stillwater Public Library building is closed to visitors at this time, but librarians are providing curbside pick-up and reference service. Learn about the latest updates to library services at library.stillwater.org or follow the library on Facebook.
