This Spotlight will help readers investigate one state's plan to improve literacy with daily summer reading instruction; review how teachers can better support struggling older readers; gain expert insights into strategies for boosting reading proficiency; evaluate the merits of audiobooks for improving reading engagement; explore how short bursts…

Students look to their school library to find new books, seek information, creatively solve problems, and use technology. School libraries play an essential role in students' academic growth and development of lifelong learning skills. All of the wonderful resources and services that school libraries provide are easily accessible to the population…

Each year, Colorado public libraries offer engaging summer reading programs to encourage children and teens to read for fun and to prevent summer learning loss. In summer 2014, the Colorado State Library invited Colorado public libraries to ask parents in their communities to help evaluate the effectiveness of these programs by completing a…

Current national and international research indicates the summer break can negatively affect students' reading achievement. To counter this effect, our primary school with a range of students worked in collaboration with our local public library to plan and implement a summer reading programme. The purpose of the programme was to increase…

Several instruments previously validated for use in school library research were tested for their appropriateness in the context of public libraries' summer reading programs for youth. The researchers were also interested in whether the connection between perceived competence in one's own information skills and perceived competence in one's own…

The school in which this research project took place, Papatoetoe Central, was concerned about research evidence that indicated students' reading achievement dropped after long summer breaks. This drop in achievement, known as "the summer effect", has been reported in schools in New Zealand and internationally (Alexander, Entwisle, &…

Games and other forms of play are used in today's libraries to attract underserved patrons, to introduce patrons to other library resources and services, and to facilitate engagement between library patrons. While many perceive gaming as a new library service, gaming services have been part of librarianship since the nineteenth century through…

This article reports on a research study designed to identify who participates in library-based summer reading clubs (SRCs) and why they elect to do so. To address this aim, questionnaires were completed by caregivers of 246 children upon enrollment to the SRC of a metropolitan library as well as 480 youth; the questionnaire was designed to learn…

Fully 57 percent of youth online watch videos, according to a Pew Internet & American Life study. And more and more are creating and sharing clips of their own making. With online engagement such an integral part of their world, Washington state's King County Library System (KCLS) decided to meet kids on their own turf by launching…

Based on the findings of a recent three-year study by Dominican University's Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, the authors can confirm what many librarians have long suspected: students who take part in their local library's summer reading program significantly improve their reading skills. This article describes the results of…

Described is the Westward Ho summer reading program sponsored by the Alabama Public Library Service. (SJ)

Issues 256 through 265 of "Fast Facts" from the Library Research Service present data collected from libraries in Colorado and throughout the nation. Topics addressed in these "Fast Facts" from 2008 include computer usage by public library patrons, Colorado summer reading programs, children's' use of public libraries, and the…

This booklet includes a brief history of the Northern Illinois Bookmobile Group, as well as national and regional notes on bookmobile activities, programs, publicity, summer reading clubs, and bookmobile maintenance. Findings of a 1978 bookmobile survey conducted by the Des Plaines Public Library are summarized, providing data on 31 bookmobile…

A collection of three articles presents three programs public librarians have created and implemented to engage the vitality and enthusiasm of young people together with library resources: (1) a summer reading club and "archeological dig"; (2) a young adult mystery festival; and (3) young adults socializing with seniors. (Author/JMV)

Describes "Mission Possible," a summer reading game with an espionage theme developed by young adult readers and the Boulder (Colorado) Public Library. Highlights include instructions for playing the game, sample activity sheets, beginning and culminating activities, daily record keeping, prizes, player evaluations of the game, and…