Wave of new readers: Albert L. Scott Library’s summer program has big year

Published 11:25 am Friday, July 29, 2022

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By EMILY REED | Special to the Reporter

ALABASTER – The response to this year’s Oceans of Possibilities Summer Reading Program at the Albert L. Scott Library was like a tidal wave.

With more than 200 new patrons added, the interest in this year’s program was up considerably from last year.

“Everyone loved the decorations and the theme for this year,” Head Librarian Kim Roberts said. “Our biggest attraction was the pet robofish—Albert and Caroline. Our kick off with Mr. Larry was great; and seeing Cinderella at our finale was exciting. A few of our most liked programs included liquid science with the science lady from Dynamic Education Adventures, percussionist Mark Seymour with BeAt Your Best and Teen’s Culture Corner–Confection Deception (Candy Sushi) with Shelby 4-H.”

There were 18,000 items circulated during the month of June at the library and nearly 13,000 books were logged that patrons read during the course of the program.

There were 738 kids, teens and adults who enrolled in the program this year.

“For the staff, it was exciting to see all of our regular families but also to meet some new ones as well,” Roberts said. “It was rewarding to see kids get enthusiastic to read and learn new things. Our hope is to provide a fun, safe, inclusive, educational and beneficial reading program to spark interest and creativity that families will remember.”

Roberts said this year’s program was a success because it was built on experience of previous years.

“We kept the core structure of our program, but enhanced it,” Roberts said. “We continued using ReadSquared as our tracking method, but added recommended reading lists and virtual video adventures. Our biggest change was to incorporate online registration for our programs on Eventbrite. This allowed us to better protect our patron’s information and more closely monitor registration lists and initiate a more effective waitlist process.”

Library staff worked for months prior to the kickoff to plan, organize, promote, create and design.

“We had a large amount of growth this summer and have experienced some growing pains,” Roberts said. “We appreciate everyone who participated and hope they had a fun and positive experience. Our staff intend to evaluate our performance and continually improve.”

The grand finale summer reading winners received a variety of prizes.

Some of the winners for the kids and teens programs included:

-Emma C. won a bicycle, T-shirt, and helmet from Bike Link.

-Mattie C. won a bag of fun.

-John M. won a bag of fun.

-Jackson C. won a bag of fun.

-Cece J. won a bag of fun.

-Lena B. won a day pass at Hooligan’s Arcade

-Hannah D. won a marvelous, mysterious, chest of treasures.

-Hannah D. won a bag of fun.

-Tristan M. won a bag of fun.

-Zaina T. won a bag of fun.

-Abby D. won a $10 Starbucks gift card

-A.J. J. won a $10 Starbucks gift card