Summer Reading Programs: The importance of staff training and the summer reading pep rally

Summer reading programs are one of the biggest parts of most, if not all, youth services departments. In this, my 25th year as a YA Librarian, I have put together 25 SRPs and executed 24. I have only had one summer, when we were moving between states, where I did not spend my summer hosting a teen summer reading program. Summers are busy, stressful and time consuming times. Yearly srps take up a huge chunk of youth librarians time and resources.

Most Childrens/YA/YS librarians begin planning for the next year’s SRP as soon as the previous year’s SRP ends. I would like to propose that you include a summer reading pep rally as part of your yearly summer reading program planning. I call it a pep rally, but it’s really a staff training day where you train staff on the how, when, where, why and whatnot of your library’s summer reading program.

Over the years I have found that one of the things staff hates the most is to appear uninformed when asked questions by the public. It’s one of the things that I hate the most. As YS librarians, it’s easy for us to forget that although the ins and out of SRP are common knowledge to us, staff may not feel fully informed and invested. But we need our front line staff to help promote SRP and be able to answer any questions that patrons may have. Thus, the SRP pep rally was born to help meet the dual need of creating staff buy in and making sure staff felt fully informed. It’s a fun way to keep staff informed, create buy in, and build team morale as we kick off what is arguable one of our busiest and most stressful times.

Here’s what we did:

1. When creating your SRP budget, put a budget line in there for the srp staff training day. I recommend hosting a catered breakfast or lunch. Staff training always seems to go better with food.
2. Pick a date a couple of weeks before your summer reading program launches and book your meeting rooms.
3. Decorate your room on theme to help create excitement. You can use items that you purchased to decorate for the summer reading program. The more use you get out of your decorations, the better.
4. Are you doing a skit or reader’s theater to promote SRP in the schools? You can use this very same intro in your SRP training day. Do something fun to break the ice and get everyone’s attention just like you would when doing school visits or at a program.
5. Provide a basic FAQ sheet that staff can take with them and keep at their service desk with the basics. Go over these in your training and allow for any questions.
6. Take a moment to discuss things like the summer slide and the value of srp to kids and the community. Help staff understand that this isn’t just busy work designed to stress staff out, but that it has concrete value that enhances the communities that we serve.
7. Do you do crafts in your summer reading program? Maybe have a hands on craft or two available to help demonstrate what you’re doing and give the staff something fun to do. For example, one year I was doing Sharpie tie dye t-shirts with my teens and at our SRP staff training day I invited staff to bring a plain, white t-shirt and we did this craft as a hands on activity. Then, staff were allowed to wear their shirts on Fridays during the SRP.
8. Thank everyone in advance for their help in promoting SRP and emphasize that they are a valuable part of summer reading success – because they are!

It’s true, having a staff srp training day creates more work, but it’s important work. An informed staff with good morale provides better customer service and works better together to meet the library’s goals. There is value in making sure staff is informed and cared for, even in our most busy times. Especially in our busiest times.

Filed under: Professional Development