Confessions of a Library Clerk: Summer Reading Program - an Insider's View

Ah, Summer Reading Program, I'm sure many of you reading this have at some point or other participated in this annual activity at your local library.  It works the same most everywhere: get a reading log, read lots of books, record your time, turn log back in when a certain number of hours has been accomplished, hope you get drawn for whatever the prize is, and get more logs for more reading.  There are, of course, some variations on this based on whether you're in the adult program, teen program, or children's program, but the format is still pretty much the same.  It's always a lot of fun, and it encourages those that may otherwise be timid readers to get involved and read more.

However, now that I work at a library, I get to see another side of this program: the chaos.  You may not realize this, but there are months of prep before the summer reading program even begins!  Besides getting the prizes sorted out there's a whole lot more that goes on to prepare for this yearly madness.  There's getting the summer reading book bags (which are different every year and for every library system), getting the logs (first and second logs) ready (nearly all of them have to be numbered so as to keep track of how many sign up; there are also a few unnumbered logs in case someone loses there first log), there's getting all the other sign-up goodies ready (bookmarks, small fun items for the kids, etc.), getting all the book displays to match with the reading program theme, decorating the whole library in accordance with the theme, and, of course, any special programs going on just because of summer reading. And this is just the list of prep that I know of!  In all likelihood, there's probably a bunch of stuff that I'm not even aware of that should be added to that list.  This, however, is just the chaos before the actual program begins!  After it starts there's a whole new level of madness!

I'm not sure how it is with other libraries, but this is what I've observed at mine.  For the first two weeks or so there is a steady, non-stop stream of people signing either themselves, their kids, or their grandkids up! If they work at a school, they might even sign up the kids from any summer classes they may be teaching!  And of course, following the flurry of signing up at whatever station has been set up for summer reading (usually at the public service desks), there is the ensuing chaos at circulation with myriads of books being checked out or requested.  This is the first two or so weeks,  however, come the third week that is when the chaos is in full swing. Remember all those books checked out during the first two weeks (not the mention the weeks prior)? Well, this is when you start to see them all coming back.... at once, because of course they can't just trickle in gently, that would be to easy. But really, this is no big deal right?  This is normal: what gets checked out, must be returned within a set period of time.  However, it's not quite this simple.  The number of books being checked out dramatically increases during summer reading.  People that usually only check our 2 or 3 books, are now checking out 6-8; and those that usually check out large numbers of books?  Yup, their check outs are easily double their norm.  Oh, and did I mention that the number of books being shipped out to/requested from other libraries has also just about doubled? And this level of chaos will continue for pretty much the rest of the program!

Now don't get me wrong, this is all great for the library!  However, it can be killer to keep up with.  For everyone: PSD is swamped, circ is swamped, and let's not forget the poor pages.  Again, remember all those books being returned? Well, someone has to put them all back again! (And hope the shelves where they go back to are in a somewhat decent order still, but, that's really just wishful thinking during the summer: the #1 untold rule of paging during summer reading is - always assume the shelf is out of order, especially if it's in the children's area.)  Ah yes, those poor, poor pages. With seemingly endless streams of books being pulled from the drop boxes (inside and out) and sent back to them to reshelve.  Right when they may have been getting sooooo close to emptying the paging shelves from the last bunch of books, here come a whole pile more!!  *Sigh* Oh, well.  

As a former page myself, I know that I really should feel terrible (or at least somewhat sorry) for the constant barrage of incoming books that can make a page feel as if they really haven't accomplished anything by the end of the day because the paging shelves are still full, but............ I really don't.  I just can't help laughing, and saying 'I'm so glad that's not me anymore!'  

If you are reading this and you are a library page, I will tell you what my page supervisor used to tell me: ........... job security!