Shock your teachers – read a book!
Information for students
Your local public library is offering you the unique chance to spend a fun time during your summer vacation, get to know other people and learn and experience interesting things. By taking part in their “Summer Reading Club” SRC you become member of a network that will make you forget all of your doubts concerning reading and the world of books.
After joining the Club, you will be supplied with an official club membership card and a so called “Reading Logbook”, where all the books you have read will be noted down.
It depends on your choice which books you would actually like to read. The library team will not only assist you in finding the right books for you, but will also enter the titles you have eventually chosen into your “Reading Logbook”.
But as a club is there to enjoy things together, rather than alone, you always have the possibility to inform the other members of your reading experiences. The best thing is that the reading tips you give to others give you the chance to win a price in the Reading Club’s tombola.
At the end of this exciting summer an end-of-vacation-party, will give you the chance to enjoy loads of free pizza and drinks with your fellow Reading Club mates and celebrate the SRC-certificates each member will receive on this occasion.
Your teachers will surely appreciate your extra-curricular commitment to reading and the certificate proves to them that you can stick to a goal you have once chosen. Also future employers will be sympathetic to your application when they find the certificate with your documents.
Information for teachers and librarians
What is the Summer Reading Club (SRC)?
Following the example of the City Library in Los Angeles the Summer Reading Club was first introduced in Germany during the summer vacation of 2002 at the City Library Brilon. Ute Hachmann the head of the latter library had brought the idea with her when she had the chance to work at Los Angeles for four weeks in 2001. The programme aims at enlarging literacy and the comprehensive reading skills of children and adolescents. With the help of the “International Scholarship” by the Bertelsmann Foundation and BI-International the SRC-project was installed as a model for Germany in Brilon and enjoys growing popularity from year to year.
What the SRC aims at?
The SRC is designed for young people between 12 and 16 years of age who are interested in reading or not satisfied anymore by seeing their favourite heroes on the movie screen. Without the pressure of school and its tests the SRC offers a great chance to improve reading, comprehension and writing skills in a friendly, communicative and laid-back atmosphere.
The library team will propose a number of books from which the SRC-members can choose their reading material for the summer vacation. After completing their reading the SRC-certificate and a surprise present wait at the end of the vacation.
The SRC-Certificate
The SRC-Certificate confirms membership to the club for the durance of a summer vacation and the reading of a certain amount of books.
The students can present it to their teachers who will appreciate their extracurricular activities and engagement by at least a remark on the next school report of the individual child or youth.
General Proceedings (Summary)
First, each child or youth who signs in for the SRC is equipped with a club card, a “Reading Logbook” and a bookmark with a selection of those books from which they choose the ones they would like to read.
All the books in question are separately shelved in the youth department of the City Library to make them easily accessible to the members.
When the books are returned the library staff will take the time to discuss the content and other issues about the books with the young readers.
Among with the titles of the books noted down in the Logbook, there is a stamp for each item read and space to document the opinion about reader’s opinion on the individual books.
The kids are also encouraged to communicate their own reading experiences and give tips to other SRC-members. If they do so they automatically take part in a tombola at the end of the SRC.
With the end of the summer vacation the Summer Reading Club also comes to an end. To celebrate this and the efforts made by every participant, a big end-of-club-party with free food and drinks is held. This is also the point where all SRC-members of the running year receive their certificates and the winner of the tombola is drawn by lot.
Last but not least: the young readers will get little surprise presents as a “thank you” for having spent time of their vacation reading books and being members of the “Summer Reading Club”.
Contact
| Ute Hachmann City Library Gartenstrasse 13 D - 59929 Brilon Fon: 0049 (0)2961 / 794 460 Fax: 0049 (0)2961 / 517 76 Email: u.hachmann@brilon.de | Sarah Braun Cultural Office North Rhine-Westphalia Gütersloh Kirchstrasse 21 D - 33330 Gütersloh Fon: 0049 (0)5241 / 211 55 35 Fax: 0049 (0)5241 / 127 75 Email: Sarah.Braun@gt-net.de |
