ASRP Review Part 1

 Adult Summer Reading Program: Fun At Last! Or is it?

When I saw a friend's Facebook post about the local public library system hosting an adult summer reading program, I was so excited that I messaged friends and suggested that we all take a look at it and give it a go! 

After all, it didn't look too bad: load a free app, complete activities on a 5-by-5 digital bingo board, and earn free sandwiches or comparable prizes. It sounded amazing! The prizes, at least, sounded better than what I remembered from teen reading programs - useless trinkets that went to Goodwill in a few years. The possibilities of the program had me signed up and raring to go almost as soon as it started.

Now that the program has reached something like its halfway mark, I thought it was time to review my experience of it so far.

No BINGO Yet

I have completed 9 out of 25 activities and have collected no bingos at this time. Halfway through the program timeline, I haven't cashed in once. It's the vagaries of not being able to choose where the activities fall that I'm more likely to try. I'm so close to having one or two bingos, but some of these activities take time and planning to do. Some are more time-intensive than I want to dedicate the time to complete. It probably works well for the library not having to hand out sandwich vouchers to me every two days, but it's hard for me to maintain motivation and excitement. Maybe things will improve once I get some momentum rolling on claiming prizes.

Activity Choices vs. Reading Options

As a child, I remember that I would earn points or prizes for every so many minutes of reading. The children and teen reading programs this year allow participants to decide their own goals. Not so for adults! Only seven of the 25 activities have to do with reading (or listening to) a whole book; another three are built around the expectation that a book will at least be referenced by the participant or read in part; and another several are at least related to books, although no reading is required there. That means that 50%-60% of the adult summer reading program doesn't really have anything to do with reading books.

I've been thinking about why the library went in this direction with their adult program, why they placed so much emphasis completing activities that are not reading-oriented. One reason that occurred to me is that maybe the library planners figured a reading-heavy program would be a hard sell for adults. Most adults have to work during the day, so there's not much time for reading. But this reason hardly satisfies me. If I don't have two hours to devote to reading at home, I'm going to find it a very hard sell to devote two hours to an evening tech class away from my husband - who I get to see only in the evenings - at a library that isn't just down the street from where I live. I don't need to take a tech class and it doesn't sound fun. Reading sounds fun. Why can't adults set their own goals, like the kids and teens can? Maybe we'd set our bars low and take advantage of the partial meal vouchers. 

Maybe there's another reason. This second one springs from the selection of activities chosen: perhaps this program is actually an advertising scheme. It's a way to promote services that the library supports besides the provision of reading material. I probably would never have listened to an episode of the library's sponsored podcast if it hadn't been on this bingo sheet, and I'm telling you that it's extremely unlikely that I'm going to listen to a second one. I'd rather be reading or listening to a podcast that interests me.

Or maybe there's another reason - a more altruistic one. Maybe the library wants adults to have a little adventure. With kids and teens, the concern is that they'll stop reading over the summer and lose some of their skills, which will set them back a bit when school starts. But with adults, maybe the assumption is that we spend too much time sitting down anyway and we need to get up and move around a bit. I find this line of reasoning unconvincing, but it's a possibility.

Present Summary

More likely than not, there's a combination of factors at work behind the activity options for the adult summer reading program at my local library. I have been somewhat disappointed with how difficult it has been proving to achieve the coveted food prizes, as well as with the dearth of true reading activities. However, I recognize that there are also likely multiple reasons behind why this program has been designed this way. I have more thoughts, but that will come in a different section. Ciao for now!