Title
Phoenix Public Library 2025 Summer Reading Program and Partnerships - Citywide
Description
This report provides the Community Services and Education Subcommittee with an update on Phoenix Public Library's (PPL) 2025 Summer Reading Program and partnerships with Phoenix Rising FC, pop artist Laufey, and the Carl T. Hayden Veteran's Administration (VA) Medical Center that were established over the summer.
THIS ITEM IS FOR INFORMATION AND DISCUSSION.
Report
Summary
Research demonstrates that children who voluntarily read during out of school time, after school, and during school breaks perform better on reading assessments. Regular reading during summer vacation is particularly important to stem or reverse summer reading loss.
Summer Reading 2025, themed "Color Our World," kicked off on June 1, 2025 and continued through August 1, 2025. The program, developed in partnership with the Arizona Department of Education, was comprised of an online interactive program encouraging participants to read and log at least 20 minutes a day. The online game featured avatars, digital badges, and educational games for children. In addition, the library hosted more than 800 programs, including theater and music performances, magic shows, wellness workshops, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) activities throughout PPL's 17 locations during the two months of the program. Participants were eligible for weekly, milestone, and grand prize drawings at all 17 PPL locations. Summer Reading is open to all ages and each minute of reading earns one point with every participant logging 1,000 or more minutes earning a free book of their choice. Youth participants received a free book at 500 and 1,000 minutes of reading logged. This year's Summer Reading Program saw a record number of participants, 25,529, including more than 16,000 youth. All told, participants logged more than 23 million minutes of reading. In addition, PPL's door count was up 18 percent and program attendance was up over 10 percent over June and July of 2024.
This summer PPL established partnerships with three different entities, allowing the library to extend its reach and connection to members of the community.
Phoenix Rising FC - Effective August 16, PPL cardholders are able to check out two free General Admission tickets for Phoenix Rising home matches (restrictions apply and while supplies last). In addition, PPL cardholders are able to receive a significant discount on General Admission Phoenix Rising home match tickets when showing their library card at the box office. Since teaming up to offer library cardholders access to Phoenix Rising matches, 281 tickets have been checked out, 86 tickets have been purchased with the library card discount, and PPL's Bookmobile visited the September 5 Phoenix Rising match. The Bookmobile welcomed 218 Phoenix Rising fans aboard, issued 12 new library cards, checked out 33 items, with a second Phoenix Rising visit scheduled for the September 27 match.
Laufey - On Sunday, August 24, PPL was one of five participating public library systems in "A Very Laufey Day." Laufey, a Grammy® award winning, jazz-inspired pop artist has held "A Very Laufey Day" for several years, inspiring fans to follow an itinerary of Laufey favorite activities. These include supporting local book stores, little free libraries, and the public library system. As a participating public library system, PPL issued a special edition Laufey Book Club card on 2025's "A Very Laufey Day." On Sunday, August 24, the Bookmobile made two special stops at Mesquite and Desert Sage Library and the four PPL locations with regularly scheduled Sunday hours welcomed over 3,300 visitors and issued approximately 800 Laufey special edition library cards. Since "A Very Laufey Day," PPL has issued an additional 3,500 Laufey Book Club special edition cards. As an extension of PPL's "A Very Laufey Day" participation, Laufey's organization provided five sets of two free tickets to her concert scheduled for September 23 and included PPL to be on hand on the concourse and available to issue special edition Laufey Book Club library cards to concert attendees as part of Laufey's support of reading and public libraries.
Carl T. Hayden Veteran's Administration Medical Center - In July, 2025, PPL's Bookmobile launched the first of monthly visits to the Carl T. Hayden Veteran's Administration Medical Center. Offering approximately 2,500 items for check out featuring a diverse range of authors, genres, and age levels. This included an extensive children's and teen collection, a collection of large print books and Spanish materials, a designated children's space with a reading bench, seed library items, culture passes, Wi-Fi, and the ability to sign up for a library card. The Bookmobile is now making scheduled stops at the VA Medical Center on the first Tuesday of each month. Veterans, their families, and caregivers have convenient access to library services without them having to venture out to main PPL locations and benefiting those who may have transportation issues. Since launching this partnership, the Bookmobile has welcomed 152 VA visitors, checked out 63 items, and created 18 new PPL cards. In addition to the monthly VA visits, upcoming Bookmobile-VA events include a Bookmobile appearance in the Veterans Day Parade on November 11 and Bookmobile participation in the Vets Giving Day Celebration at Carl T. Hayden VA Medical Center on November 15.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Assistant City Manager Inger Erickson and the Library Department.