A presentation for the 2010 Missouri Library Association Conference by Patrick Wall amp Christa Van Herreweghe Who are we Who are we Who are we Who are we really Who are we A highly competitive group of failednon athletes who like to play to our strengths ID: 303273
Download Presentation The PPT/PDF document "Competitive Reading" is the property of its rightful owner. Permission is granted to download and print the materials on this web site for personal, non-commercial use only, and to display it on your personal computer provided you do not modify the materials and that you retain all copyright notices contained in the materials. By downloading content from our website, you accept the terms of this agreement.
Slide1
Competitive Reading
A presentation for the 2010 Missouri Library Association Conference by
Patrick Wall & Christa Van HerrewegheSlide2
Who are we?Slide3
Who are we?Slide4
Who are we?Slide5
Who are we? (really…)Slide6
Who are we?
A highly competitive group of failed/non- athletes who like to play to our strengths.
We are currently 10 months into what has become the preeminent Competitive Reading contest in the nation (ok, the only one we know of).
See our blog at: www.ucplbookchallenge.blogspot.comSlide7
What is competitive reading?
A Readers Advisory tool.
A way to develop your library blog.
A way to harmlessly taunt your friends and co-workers (well, almost harmlessly).
A reason to ignore your friends and family by pretending something you wanted to do anyway is work related.
A way to justify your obsessive reading.Slide8
The Readers Advisor Pie at UCPLSlide9
Why read competitively?
A lot of us suck at sports. (Real sports; bowling and video games don’t count).
If you are just counting numbers of titles and not mentioning that they are all graphic novels and YA fiction, then saying “I read 105 books this year,” makes you seem kind of smart. A little odd if you’re saying this to random strangers, but kind of smart.Slide10
Why read competitively? (cont.)
Competitive knitting hasn’t taken off yet.
Fame and fortune awaits….Slide11
Ok, maybe just fame.Slide12
Our boss’s new friend…Slide13
Benefits of competitive reading (official)
Promotes teamwork and communication.
Improves everyone's RA skills.
Makes “staff picks” lists fun and easy.
Generates ideas for book displays.Slide14
Benefits of competitive reading (actual)
Learn a LOT about your coworkers.
Smug sense of superiority over your co-workers if you’re ahead in even one of the categories.
Someone on staff will finally learn how to blog.Slide15
Is always sweet at work…
Reads only books about Zombies, Vampires and Serial KillersSlide16
Behind his “alternative” look is…
A guy who likes a good Western.Slide17
Taunt him about his reading totals…
And you CAN make him cry.Slide18
Her entries look a lot like what you find on Amazon…
We aren’t even sure if she reads anything.Slide19
Tried to recruit Nancy to post on the blog as “Christa”…
FAIL! But boy, is Nancy nice while saying, “Hell no.”Slide20
Married a PhD candidate…
We think he might be inflating his totals.Slide21
Be Careful…
Of getting ahead of Kathleen in the competition.Slide22
Claims to be interested in U.S. history…
Mostly reads Urban Lit.Slide23
Worked as an editor for years…
Will humiliate all comers with 300 books a year.Slide24
How to set up a contest
Start a blog – We used Google’s Blogger
Word Press is also very popular.
You may already have a blog.
If you are using a content management system, it probably has a built-in blog.
Undoubtedly hundreds of other options are out there (but we would have had to do research, so just call a reference librarian and ask them if you need more information).Slide25
How to set up a contest
Make up some rules.
Gather some prizes.
Be creative…you will be surprised what people might value if you call it a “prize” and tell them they are a “winner.”
Conference swag (start collecting this today!)
30 minutes of paid reading time
OtherSlide26
Some ideas for categories
Winners can be chosen for:
Total books read.
Most pages read.
Participation points (make up a way to award these points).
Random drawing each month of people who have posted.
Weighted totals.
Best review.
Highest page average.Slide27
Cindy is ahead in total books.Slide28
Joni is ahead in total pages.Slide29
Raheem
is ahead in books about ponies.Slide30
Lessons learned
Have people tag their entries with their name (or code name).
Make SURE participants understand they need to keep track of their own totals.
Require each reader to do their own blog entries.
Be ready to change rules at any time as long as it helps you pull ahead in some aspect of the competition.Slide31
Who else will competitive reading appeal to?
AuthorsSlide32
Who else will competitive reading appeal to?
Book reviewersSlide33
Who else will competitive reading appeal to?
PublishersSlide34
Who else will competitive reading appeal to?
ConvictsSlide35
Who else will competitive reading appeal to?
Persons with obsessive personalitiesSlide36
Who else will competitive reading appeal to?
YOU!Slide37
Next steps – MISSOURI Book Challenge
It’s ON people. Starting January 1
st
, our highly experienced competitive reading team is challenging YOUR LIBRARY.
Go to http://mobookchallenge.blogspot.com/Slide38
How to set up your Book Challenge
Set up a blog.
Make up your rules and scoring categories.
Offer your co-workers
cheap crap
prizes.
Register your team at http://mobookchallenge.blogspot.com/Slide39
How to keep people participating
Cajole them.
Threaten them.
Taunt them.
Offer even more prizes of questionable value.Slide40
What next?
Please consider attending our presentation at the 2011 Missouri Library Association Conference
Competitive Reading: The MusicalSlide41
Many Thanks to Linda Ballard, our beloved director AND the 2010 Missouri Library Employee of the year! And the rest of the gang at University City Public Library.Slide42
Find out more:
University City Public Library
–
www.ucpl.lib.mo.us
UCPL Book Challenge –
www.ucplbookchallenge.blogspot.com
Missouri Book Challenge -
http://mobookchallenge.blogspot.com/
Patrick Wall –
pjwall@ucpl.lib.mo.us
Christa Van
Herreweghe
–
christa@ucpl.lib.mo.us