Washington State's Summer Reading Program

The Washington State Library encourages participation in your local public library summer program. Research has shown that children who continue to read and learn over the summer maintain their reading skills and that summer involvement with reading leads to better academic skills when children return to school in the fall. Make reading and learning a regular part of summer by joining others in the community for lots of good reads and special programs at your local public library. Check your local library for program offerings—including early learning, adult and family programs.

Collaborative Summer Library Program

Washington State's membership in the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) and distribution of manuals for all public and tribal libraries is paid for by the Washington State Library with funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The summer reading program manual covers programming for early literacy, youth, teen and adult and is available on a USB drive or via online download. If you are interested in receiving these materials for next summer but aren't sure how, please contact the Youth Services Consultant. To find out more about this year's theme, visit the Collaborative Summer Library Program website.

Background

The Washington State Library belongs to a national consortium dedicated to providing children, teens and adults with quality summer reading program materials through their public libraries. The Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) is a grassroots consortium working together to bring reading programs to communities at the lowest cost possible for public libraries. Membership currently stands at 50 states and the District of Columbia.

By combining resources and working with commercial vendors to produce materials designed exclusively for CSLP members, public libraries in participating states can purchase posters, reading logs, bookmarks, certificates, and a variety of reading incentives at significant savings. The programs incentive materials are available to be purchased individually by each library through the CSLP store.

Public, tribal, and military libraries currently receive manuals for the summer program. Since Washington State joined the Collaborative in 2003 the program has grown to include separate programs for teens, adults and early learning. The work of the Collaborative is done by committee, with an annual person to person meeting per year and the remaining done by phone or email.

iREAD Reading Program

Libraries in Washington State can choose between using the resources from the Collaborative Summer Reading program or the resources from the iREAD Reading Program. The Washington State Library will purchase each library outlet either the CSLP manual or the iREAD Resource Guide. Click HERE to learn more about this year's iREAD theme.

"WHAT Is iREAD? A flexible, nonprofit reading program designed by librarians featuring appealing incentives, compelling and adaptable themes, and a comprehensive resource guide chock full of ideas and reproducibles.

WHY Should I Use iREAD? iREAD is run by ILA, a nonprofit entity; revenues are used to support libraries. There are NO membership fees, contracts, or commitments necessary. iREAD is flexible; you can use the art in perpetuity after purchase. We provide themed templates for any commonly used registration software package such as Beanstack, Evanced, and others. We have a proven track record of success since 1982!"

-About iREAD

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Funded in part by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA).