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Receive a presentation from the Department of Library Services on the 2016 Summer Reading Challenge held at public libraries throughout the county and the final results
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Published Notice Required? Yes ____ No _X _
Public Hearing Required? Yes ____ No _X _
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
The Department of Library Services recommends that the Board of Supervisors receive a presentation from the Library providing a final report on the 2016 Summer Reading Challenge held at the public libraries throughout the county.
SUMMARY:
The Library’s Summer Reading Challenge is a program designed to help with literacy throughout the county. Library participants included the County Library, which provides library services in five of the seven cities within the county, the Benicia Public Library and the Dixon Public Library. The Summer Reading Challenge is one way to get books into the hands of children and to help combat the loss of learning that occurs throughout the summer commonly known as the “summer slide”. It is also a way to encourage adult learning and to promote a life-long love of books.
Here are some highlights from the Library’s summer program:
Total number of Solano County Library (SCL) participants registered: 6,581
Total number of SCL participants who completed the program: 3,095 (47%)
Total number of SCL books read: 34,114
Total number of Dixon Public Library participants registered: 646
Total number of Benicia Public Library pages read: 69,100
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no cost to the General Fund as the Library is funded entirely through property and sales tax revenue.
DISCUSSION:
Literacy starts with children. The Library’s Summer Reading Challenge particularly targets children. Lack of formal schooling during the summer creates a tendency for children to lose some of the achievement gains they made during the previous school year. This is known as the “summer slide”, and occurs when children fall behind in reading and math over the summer. This effect is well-documented, cumulative, and most damaging to children from low-income families. About two-thirds of the nation’s ninth grade achievement gap in reading has been attributed to this exact problem of summer learning loss.
The Library’s Summer Reading Challenge provides children with reading incentives and free entertainment. The incentives give a direct reason for children to read. The programs are meant to help attract children and adults to the library where they can find reading material that interests them. Summer at the Library is a time when children can select their own reading material and when adults can explore the world through print.
When people, especially children, read for enjoyment, they receive the most gains in reading achievement, reading comprehension, writing style, vocabulary, spelling, and grammatical development; also, the longer voluntary reading is practiced, the more consistent and positive the results. Thus the Library’s summer events bring people to an environment where they can pick books they enjoy. This then gives them the best chance to be successful.
Summer reading is more than just numbers. Each number tells a story. Each participant is a child or an adult who has read over the summer and is proud of that. They come to the library and tell us. Children get to show off a little and adults want to make Solano County a better place.
The numbers presented here represent a 16% increase in participation from the 2015 Summer Reading Program statistics. The Library continues to excel through our commitment to education and believe that one of the best ways to grow readers is to provide educational opportunities such as the Summer Reading Challenge.
To further the Library’s commitment to education, the Library has partnered with the Young Artists Conservatory of Music to extend their Music Matters educational program into the libraries. These will be a series of discussions with Wanda L. Cook presenting a series of talks she calls Music Changes Everything. She will discuss how music effects cognition, social cohesion, artistic capacity, academic success, emotional intelligence, and the capacity for challenge that music brings. In short, all the things we know books to do.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board could choose not to receive this presentation; however, this is not recommended as it provides an opportunity to highlight the Library’s Summer Reading Challenge.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The Benicia Public Library and the Dixon Public Library also participated in the Summer Reading Challenge.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION