The library’s summer reading program ended on August 7 with a bang. More than 4,000 readers completed the Dive In Deep reading challenge and picked up their ocean-themed prizes. What’s more impressive is the challenge was more ambitious than in years past with an individual goal of reading and logging 30 hours between May 21 and August 7. That’s up from 20 hours.
Together, our community read a total of 200,000 hours! We have now logged 750,000 hours toward Mayor Jacobs’ 2023 Read City goal of one million hours of reading. We have 250,000 hours to go. Keep on the lookout for our final reading challenge of the year: Sailing Home is the last leg of our Oceans of Possibilities theme and kicks off on September 1.
A well attended ‘Zoomobile’ event at the Farragut branch.
Along with the reading, summer programs at the library were very popular with nearly 11,000 kids and their families attending over 400 programs. The most popular programs were visits from the Zoomobile from Zoo Knoxville, magic with Michael Messing, and Sizzling Science with Dr. Al Hazari. All told, it was a great summer at the library. Kudos to all participants.
Mary Pom Claiborne is assistant director for marketing, communications and development for the Knox County Public library.