State Library of Iowa outlines 'Level Up' adult summer-reading resources, download deadline June 1

The State Library of Iowa on a recorded webinar walked library staff through the 2025 iRead resource guide for adult summer reading and programming, stressing a June 1 download deadline and a range of ready-to-run program ideas and promotional assets.

The webinar matters because the iRead guide includes art and graphic files, customizable templates, program bibliographies and step-by-step ideas that libraries statewide can reuse to run or promote adult summer programming with minimal design or technical work.

Presenters Mary Anne Mori, central district consultant at the State Library of Iowa, and a State Library colleague identified as Sam reviewed how to obtain and use the resource guide, how to adapt materials for different-sized libraries and communities, and concrete program ideas ranging from tabletop and video-game nights to wellness workshops and civic engagement events. “One size summer does not fit all,” Mori said, summarizing the presenters’ guidance for tailoring programs to local staff, space and budgets.

The State Library emailed the resource guide to library directors on Nov. 6, 2024, and the presenters repeated two key operational points: each library must download the guide only once, and files are large zip archives that should be fully extracted to a local drive before use. Mori told attendees the art and graphics folder includes PNG and JPEG files (transparent backgrounds available in PNGs) and some SVG files for users with advanced graphics tools. Presenters advised…