Library Giving Day to raise funds for summer reading program, including free books and Velocity, Zephyr soccer game tickets

The Library Foundation of Spokane County will kick off its annual Library Giving Day on Tuesday to raise money for the Spokane County Library District’s summer reading program.

Though called Library Giving Day, the foundation will be accepting donations during the entire month of April with the goal of raising $5,000. In years past, money raised during the Giving Day has been used to purchase Wi-Fi hotspots during the pandemic and items for SCLD’s Library of Things, which allows people to check out everything from garden tools to telescopes.

Last year the foundation decided to donate the money to the summer reading program for the first time, said SCLD public services manager Gwendolyn Haley. The program encourages children to track the amount of time they spend reading over the summer in order to win prizes. The goal is to help students maintain or improve their reading skills over the summer so they’re ready for school to resume in the fall.

The Giving Day donations last year paid to purchase a book for each child aged 5 to 17 to keep, Haley said.

“We wanted to front load the summer reading program,” she said. “Every kid who registers gets a book. Even if they don’t come back all summer long, we know we got at least one book in their hands.”

The response to the free books was immediate, causing registrations to surge. Last summer more than 1,500 children signed up for the summer reading program, a 33% increase in total registrations and a 59% increase in participants ages 5-17.

The largest group of youth participants were in grades 2-4, which is a key time for young readers, Haley said. Learning methods typically shift in the fourth grade, making reading skills an important component of grades 1-3.

“There’s a big shift when kids aren’t learning to read, but reading to learn,” she said.

Last year the foundation raised $10,000, well over the goal of $5,000, said SCLD communication director Jane Baker. The library will use those excess funds this year to expand the books purchased to include infants and preschoolers as well.

“We decided to expand to ages 0 to 17,” Baker said.

“That was a big request from families,” Haley added.

The Spokane County Library District is a literacy partner with Scholastic, a children’s book publisher. That allows the district to purchase books at a steep discount, Haley said.

Children are allowed to select which book they want, so the district purchases a variety. Last year’s inaugural giveaway provided data on what kind of books kids like and what should be purchased this year, Haley said.

“Clearly, we have to buy a lot more graphic novels,” she said.

Giving Day donations can be given online at www.supportscld.org or in person at any Spokane County Library District branch in April.

Haley said she’s expecting high turnout for the summer reading program again this year.

“Our trend for summer reading has been going up steadily,” she said. “Post-pandemic has been really good for libraries.”

Registration for the summer reading program will open on June 1, though children can sign up any time after that, Haley said.

“Even if they sign up in August, they still get a book,” she said.

The goal is to get children to read for 10 hours over the summer. As an incentive, every child ages 5-17 who reads at least 300 minutes (five hours) will receive a free ticket to a Velocity or Zephyr soccer game. There will also be a grand prize drawing at the end of the summer.

Registration for the summer reading program will be available online at www.scld.org after June 1 or families can sign up in person at any SCLD branch.