Summer Reading: Wyoming Summer Reading Program

Wyoming Summer Reading Program

The Wyoming State Library strongly encourages residents to participate in summer reading programming at their local public library. Years of research have continued to demonstrate how summer reading helps to maintain the literacy skills and academic performance of children and teens while providing them with education and entertainment. Each year, the State Library sponsors the annual Summer Reading program for all Wyoming public libraries, offering people of all ages access to free reading materials and programming activities.

The Wyoming State Library is a member of the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP), a nationwide consortium of libraries that promotes an interest in and love of reading and library use in their respective communities. This highly reproducible program, shared with its members yearly, provides a theme, services, and resources designed to help your staff create user-centered, engaging programming that meets the needs of your community.

Their collective decision to share resources and forge strong partnerships with commercial suppliers has enabled them to produce exclusive merchandise for their participating members. All public libraries within a member state can purchase incentives such as reading logs, bookmarks, and posters at a reduced price to help them run a successful, low-cost summer reading program. As of 2024, the two official locations permitted to sell official merchandise are the CSLP Store and SchoolLife.

In addition to providing the required funding to have access to all the CSLP-produced merchandise, the membership of the Wyoming State Library also offers additional services to public libraries, including:

• A copy of a Summer Reading Manual (with access to select programming and promotional resources) for all locations in their respective county.
• My responsibility to function as a liaison between the Wyoming Public Libraries and the Collaborative Summer Reading Library.
• My duty to act as your representative at the Annual Collaborative Summer Library Programming Members Meeting each year by providing valuable input and casting the vote for Wyoming on CSLP themes, incentives/prices, and other related materials.
• My responsibility to facilitate fruitful discussions and host training and planning sessions to help libraries succeed in their goal of running a successful summer-long reading event.

I cannot express enough my understanding that the CSLP manual is a crucial resource many of you rely on to create engaging library events. As your new Youth Services Consultant, I am here to support you in any way I can. Don't hesitate to contact me anytime with any questions, concerns, or suggestions about summer reading materials and resources.