Youth services presents participation figures, new programs and plan to boost summer reading

Emily Sidpau, youth services supervisor, gave a comprehensive board training and program overview Dec. 17, detailing staff roles, program types and participation metrics and outlining initiatives for 2025 intended to boost early-childhood and teen engagement.

Sidpau told the board Youth Services is staffed by one supervisor, two librarians and two library assistants who serve three branch locations and manage collection development for children and young-adult materials, program planning, school outreach and summer-reading initiatives. She said the department oversees daily story times, family programs, a kids advisory board (ages about 7–11) and a teen advisory board that helps plan teen offerings.

On participation, Sidpau reported that 2,102 children have registered for the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program since the 2021 relaunch and participants have logged 340,360 books. She said those totals do not equate to 1,000 books per child on average and acknowledged she did not have a precise count of program completions on hand. Sidpau also said youth-services programming in 2024 included a high number of school and community events — she reported facilitating or participating in 72 programs at local schools and organizations — and she gave counts for internal programs, saying "youth services offered 510 programs for children and 144 programs for teens" in 2024 (as counted by staff).

Sidpau flagged a decline in summer-reading participation among children ages about 4–11 between 2022 and 2024 and described planned responses: increased coordination with area teacher-librarians to promote programs in schools, piloted playground/school stops during the summer to bring activities to neighborhoods, changes to prize formats, and a teen-street-team promotion effort. She highlighted successful school outreach that registers first graders for library cards and reported a 13% increase in return visits tied to that initiative.

Planned 2025 programs Sidpau listed included a preschool fair (March or April), a toddler prom, an "adopt-a-reading-pet" program in February, teen terrarium workshops with a local plant shop (Quartz Botanicals), and continued collaborations with regional partners such as the Fixel Geology Museum.

Board members asked about volunteer vetting and child-safety processes for events; Sidpau said volunteers undergo a vetting process and background checks and that most children's programs require a parent or guardian to remain on site; exceptions include the kids advisory board where additional supervision and check-in procedures apply.

Sidpau closed by noting staff are experimenting with formats and outreach to regain summer-reading participation and will report back as initiatives are piloted.