Summer

Reading
2017
Overview

The DC Public Librarys Summer Reading program is the largest program in the District
working to prevent Summer Slide, the loss in reading comprehension skills that occurs
during summer vacation.

For the second year in a row, DCPL shifted focus from registration to completion
emphasizing genuine participation and meeting (or beating) reading goals. Although overall
completions were down due to the closure of two
branches and the central library, as well as a change in
teen incentives, the important birth to twelve age
60,617
group saw strong completion rates: 50% of participants hours of reading
hit the end goal. Overall, 40% of program registrants by 6-12s in 2017
completed the program, up from 30.7% in 2016.

Over the course of the summer, 943,673 people came into the library, and staff connected
with 16,074 people at outreach events. MPDs Beat the Streets program partnered with the
Bellevue Library as part of their annual Back to School night, helping to promote Summer
Reading to a wider audience in the community.

Summer Reading Completions Birth to % of Registrants

12: 2016 vs. 2017 Who Completed
10000
(all ages)
5000
33% 31% 40%
17%
0 2% 6%
June July August September

2016 2017 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

Document #8.2 Board of Library Trustees Meeting 11/15/17

 2017 Summer Highlights
Backpack Giveaway
The Library, the Department of Parks &
Rec, and the John Wall Family Founda-
tion partnered on a backpack giveaway at
the Rosedale Library and Recreation Cen-
ter. 250 people participated in festivities
including food, games, music, and a give-
away of backpacks and school supplies.

Eclipse Mania
The DC Public Libraryand libraries across
Total Completions by Location
the countrydistributed hundreds of free FY16 FY17 +/-
eclipse glasses and hosted eclipse STEM Anacostia 293 118 -175
programs. Bellevue 202 100 -102
Benning 377 340 -37
Signature Speaker Series Capitol View 308 - N/A
With support from the DC Public Library Chevy Chase 442 516 74
Foundation, over 100 children and caregiv- Cleveland Park 544 384 -160
Deanwood 133 564 431
ers enjoyed an interactive, bilingual story
Francis Gregory 289 287 -2
time at Mount Pleasant Library led by chil- Georgetown 265 402 137
drens author Eric Litwin. Bestselling author Lamond Riggs 148 195 47
Roxane Gay delivered a talk on her latest MLKML 614 - N/A
Mount Pleasant 630 575 -55
memoir, Hunger, to a completely sold out Northeast 487 388 -99
crowd of 1,200 at All Souls Church. Northwest One 555 285 -270
Palisades 352 - N/A
Writopia: Fiction and Fun! Parklands-Turner 184 170 -14
Teens participated in multi-genre work- Petworth 474 350 -124
Rosedale 408 212 -196
shops led by the writers of Writopia. Teens Shaw 464 377 -87
created and refined their pieces with pub- Shepherd Park 513 319 -194
Southeast 492 425 -67
lished writers and playwrights. By the end
Southwest 532 151 -381
of the workshop, participants completed a Takoma Park 244 231 -13
polished piece ready to be submitted to Tenley 645 599 -46
online literary magazines, The Parenthetical West End 65 119 54
Woodridge 301 372 71
and The Ellipsis.
DC Jail Library 4 19 15
TOTAL 10,017 7,537 -2,480