Anne Kissinger of the Milwaukee County Federated Library System wrote about “Literacy Nights at the Public Library” on this week’s ALSC list-serv. We liked this idea so much we wanted to share it.

The Wauwatosa Public Library, a member of MCFLS, held two literacy nights each with a different approach. The first, for adults, was a summer reading promotion and included
communication, research, vocabulary games, book talks, story telling, library support and library programs. Kissinger credits the successful participation to the help of Title 1 teachers who spoke with parents/caretakers one-on-one or sent home invitations to the event, as many of the adults were not library users.

The second literacy night was held at an elementary school and included adults and children. The public library held read-alouds to different grade levels and talked about the summer reading program. Other activities included showing the viral video “Gotta Keep Reading,” an author visit, reader’s theatre by students and a book swap.