Washington summer reading challenges go digital

WASHINGTON — Library staff say they’ve adopted an app that will allow participants to complete this year’s summer reading challenges without the hassle of a paper tracking sheet.

While the old-fashioned method still is an option, Youth Services Librarian Jenisa Harris said the app — called Beanstack Tracker — offered a user-friendly alternative for the logs. The software allows library cardholders — and their family members older than 17 months — to participate completely remotely in the annual program.

“You literally wouldn’t have to step a foot in the building to do your reading challenge,” she said. “The great thing about summer reading (is,) they could’ve always read in the past, and if you couldn’t come to the other activities … they could come get their reading logs. So this is an even easier way for parents on the go to be able to track things.”

The library has called on its patrons of all ages to complete 4,000 combined reading challenges by July 31. If successful, Harris said the institution would throw a party in August in its backdoor alleyway.

“When they register for Beanstack, it will only show challenges in their age and grade,” she said. “We’ve done bingo cards in the past, but this is really the first time we’re kind of challenging all ages to do the same goal (and) all work together.”

The challenges range from content-specific prompts like "read a biography,“ in the teens section, to others entirely unrelated to the literature itself, like “Read a book with your bare feet in the grass,” or “watch a sunset,” both in the adults section. When users complete them, the app checks them off and updates the library’s tally.

For younger patrons, Harris said the summer challenge was a way to ensure continued competency between school years. Extending the challenges to adults helps ensure that kids have role models to follow.

“They can lose two reading levels in the summer, it’s called the ‘Summer Slide,’” she said. “It’s really great that parents lead by example and read as well, because if we say, ‘Hey, you’ve got to keep your literacy up, it’s great, it’s fun,’ but we’re not doing it as well, it doesn’t always work great. And it is fun to have a family thing we’re working toward.”

The adult reading challenges have a loose theme centered on history this year. Adult Services Librarian Tammy Valentine said it was a good fit.

“Our community really loves history, and I thought this would be a way to really connect with people, get that old nostalgic feeling of how summers used to be,” she said. “And it’s lighter reading for people when summers are busy … I don’t want to make it homework, and so it really is a broad area.”

Harris said the book-tracking app was initially sought out by the library for its “1,000 books before Kindergarten” initiative, but carried over well to the needs of the reading challenge logs. In the future, the library plans to integrate the app into various activities throughout the year.

To encourage its use, she said library staff were happy to help patrons with any troubleshooting for the app, which has uses within and beyond the institution’s programs.

“We’re hoping summer reading is like, our big kickoff to use this, and then we’ll offer (other challenges) throughout the year for kids and adults,” Harris said. “You can scan the back of a book with it, and it logs it. It knows the title, it knows how many pages, it has, all of it. So it’s really nice for people who want the app to log reading. You can log how many minutes you read, you can log pages.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com