Now that school is back in session, it’s a great time for us to reminisce about our favorite moments from the Summer Reading Program.
We hosted our 2024 summer reading program from June 3 to August 3, and had 1,356 summer reading program participants. We created 148 new library cards over the summer, which included a number of patrons from the Rock Valley, Hawarden, and Alton areas due to flooding. Many of those patrons also joined our summer reading program. We hosted over 100 programs, with 5,426 attendees between all of them. Some program highlights included the Zoo Man, Summer SPLASH, Storytime, Darrin Crow Storyteller and Adventures in Food.
Summertime certainly keeps the library staff on our toes. The library is typically much busier in the summer, and this year was no exception, we checked out over 50,000 books since June!
We increased the length of the summer reading program after feedback from teachers asking us to motivate kids to keep reading for as long as could over summer break.
“I love seeing our library SO busy! I especially love it when it’s so busy we need all staff on deck to help patrons and shelve books! It’s crazy, but it’s exciting too!” says library director Becky Bilby. “We add so much value to people’s summers – activities, reading, a place to come – and now, next summer, we will have all new exciting things to offer!”
Adult Program Highlights
Adult programmer Kari Ringelberg says some of her favorite programs this summer were storyteller Darin Crow, and Hank Kohler, who shared about his adventures canoeing the Mississippi river.
“Darren Crow and Hank Kohler (One4Water) were both such wonderful and animated speakers. Both great storytellers, very personable and can engage an audience so well,” says Ringelberg.
“It is so cool to see the numbers grow each year, people get excited about it and the programs, but after such a busy summer, it is also great to see it come to an end.”
Kari Ringelberg, adult programmer
Children’s Highlights
Rachel Byars, one of the children’s programmers enjoyed many of the programs we hosted this summer, including the Insect Exploration program hosted by Ron Rynders and Jeremy Hummel
“They were both so interesting and really had a lot of information that they shared with the kids. I think they learned a lot; I know I did!” says Byars.
Byars also noted excitement around The Zoo Man program, and hosting Storytime in new locations.
“It was fun doing [Storytime] offsite like at the parks and the dome and the fair. Plus, we had Lisa Laird do one and she was amazing! “” Byars adds.
Over 225 children attended the Zoo Man program, and he signed a copy of his book The Zoo Man Remembers, for the library.
Teen Highlights
Teen Programmer Emily Van Weerdhuizen’s favorite summer program was the Adventures in food program.
“I really enjoyed it because I love exploring food and sharing that with kids. For the second session, we made Taiwanese boba tea and that was super fun!” says VanWeerdhuizen.
Summer Splash
Maria Vander Plaats led the library’s summer SPLASH program, which has been a staple of the summer reading program for many years. One of her favorite parts of this year’s SPLASH was working with community organizations for certain sessions.
“I love the ability to pull in community partners for this program. Promise [Community Health] came to do some outdoor safety adventures and Siouxland Ag in the Classroom came to do a few food adventures,” says Vander Plaats. “It’s fun to explore reading topics & activities related to our summer reading theme.”
“I love to see the reaction on community member’s faces when they pick up the grand prizes for summer reading. It is fun to see them throughout the summer picking up books to read and work toward their goals.”
– Maria Vander Plaats, programming assistant
Librarian On The Loose 