Idaho Commission for Libraries

Thank you Fred Meyer Fund! A $15,000 grant provided Idaho libraries with over 6,200 free paperback books to distribute to children participating in their summer reading programs. See which libraries received books:
click here.

We are Teachers provides great resources for both public and school librarians. Here are their recommendations that can give you ideas to help parents prevent summer brain drain!

Partnership ideas & more:

Your CSLP Summer Reading Manual is packed full of great summer programs material! Here are a few resources in your manual that will help you start planning for summer reading now:

Chapter 1:
Letter to local businesses, page 11
Call for volunteers, page 15
Program planning form, page 17
Planning calendars, page 18

Idaho librarians have the opportunity to make their voices heard by voting for Idaho’s suggestions for upcoming summer reading themes. The Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) has asked each member state to send their top five suggestions for the 2011 kids theme and 2011 teen theme using the topic World Culture/Travel.

Fall is in the air which means it’s time think about summer reading. The Commission is once again sponsoring the 2009 Bright Futures summer reading outreach program for all publicly-funded Idaho public libraries. Your library can apply to receive free materials to support outreach in your community to reach more underserved children.

This program encourages public libraries to partner with up to 3 elementary schools, in order to garner support for summer reading from school administrators, teachers and parents.

Partner with one or more agencies or organizations in your community. Together with your partner organization, plan at least two programs to be held outside the library in June, July and/or August that target underserved children*. You will receive paperback books suitable for your program audience to be given away to children attending the off-site programs.

Get elementary-age children excited about signing up for summer reading! You will receive "Make a Splash" nylon flying disks, with a storage pouch, for each student when a library staff member or volunteer visits one or more schools to promote your Summer Reading program. Classroom visits, assemblies and field trips to the public library count, too!

Idaho is a member state of the Collaborative Summer Library Program. The children's theme for 2010 is "Make a Splash- Read!" and the teen theme is "Make Waves @ your library." This year your CSLP Summer Reading Manual also includes a section for adult programming around the theme, "Water Your Mind."

Attn: Public Library Summer Reading Coordinators

One hundred eleven (111) public libraries signed up to receive free paperback books for their summer reading programs. These books are provided through a grant for $15,000 from the Fred Meyer Fund. We just received the check this week and the books have been ordered. We anticipate that the books will be shipped to the Commission by June 23rd. We plan to begin mailing books to libraries by June 27th. To see if your library signed up to receive books, check the list here.