Well done!

Numbers are in and it was a very successful summer reading for all three programs. You are all to be commended for your hard work and support. I'm giving the Friends of the Library an update tonight. I've condensed the reports for them and want to share them with you.

Catch the Reading Bug
12,752 packets were distributed.
6,490 children read at least 5 hours this summer, up 11% from 2007.
645 programs were presented, with 33,647 people attending, a 14% increase from 2007. During June and July 227,755 children’s books were checked out.

iRead 2008
1,633 teens participated in iRead ’08 throughout the CCPL system. This is a 30% increase over 2007.
Over 9,000 entries were received and almost 2.3 million total pages were read.
The number of teens who reached their 500 page goal increased by 23%; the number who reached their 1,000 page goal increased by 26%.

Reading Wave
1,465 participants, up 60% from 2007. 8,065 entries received, a 58% increase from last year.

You've helped promote literacy, provided fun and entertainment and made the large numbers of people happy. Proud of you!

Challenges

Thanks to Jim Letendre and Stephanie Roff for passing along a popular blog posting by a Library Director who responded, as the patron requested, online to their request for reconsideration. A thoughtful and graceful reply. Hit a nerve and librarians across the country have posted comments. So have some people who are not happy with his response.
All of us have to deal with challenges to library materials at one point or another. This is a great model.

Jaslarue.blogspot.com Uncle Bobby's wedding

Show yourself on Flickr

In case you haven't seen this, I've copied some information from the Flickr site about a 24 blitz Flickr is having on 8/8/8.

Given the success of last year’s event, we hope that you’ll join us in celebration of another 24 Hours of Flickr – Flickr 888 on Friday, August 8th, 2008 (8-8-8!), a most auspicious day!

How can you participate? Take a photo any time during the twenty-four hour period that’s August 8th where you are and then share it with the group. We’ll accept one (1) contribution per Flickr member into the group from noon PST Friday, August 8th until Tuesday, September 2nd, noon PST, 2008.

We’ve partnered with the cool folks at MOO to create unique Flickr 888 Postcard Packs. Those images with sufficient resolution (1795x1287 pixels) that feature “safe” content (as defined in our Community Guidelines), will be printed and sold in postcards packs this coming fall at MOO. We’re still working out the final details of how many, how much, etc., and we’ll share the full details here in the group when we’ve got our ducks in a row.

So, mark your calendars, and get ready to capture August 8th in all its glory.

I know lots of you have department and branch Flickr accounts and even more have ones you set up during Tech Trek, so please post? If you do post library ones, please tag them with either CCPL or Charleston County Public Library, so we can find them. Look forward to seeing you! Rules can be found at flickr888