Monday's Topic: Book Buddies

  I decided to coordinate with the book talk Tuesday schedule to swap Monday and Tuesday topics, so Monday topics are now programming topics.

   This week I decided to talk about Book Buddies. This is a successful program I started at my library about 5 years ago. I thought of the idea when my mentor had mentioned she did this program at her library and it went very well. This is a great program for many reasons. First, its a great way for children to practice reading. Secondly, it is really easy to do once you get the volunteers in place; basically you are just monitoring the program. Third, its a program that is for both children and teens and teens can receive volunteer credit for doing it.

 The first year I had gotten volunteers by recruiting teens from the library. Since it was the first year, I only had a few volunteers. The second year, I was very lucky to have a local school contact me and tell me they would like to do community service through the library. Instant volunteers! I was very happy. We have been working with them until the library has been renovated. We lost touch but we may get back in touch for the fall.

 The children love to pick out their own books and have fun with their "buddies". I try to keep them with the same person if possible, but sometimes switch it up so every volunteer has a chance to read.