The South Carolina State Library takes part in the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP), a grassroots consortium of states working together to provide high-quality summer reading program materials for children at the lowest cost possible for their public libraries. This year, the State Library has also partnered with PAIRS, Parents and Adults Inspiring Reading Success– a project of SC daily newspapers and administered by the SC Education Oversight Committee, to bring awareness of the program to a larger audience than ever before. According to Dana Yow, Director of Communications and Community Involvement for the Education Oversight Committee, “Reading is a critical skill for students. It is the key to individual success in learning because it is the foundation for success in all subject areas. ...Building an appreciation for reading and learning today will help your children be successful in school and more than likely, they will become lifelong readers and learners.”
The Library’s Talking Book Services offers students who are blind, visually impaired and physically handicapped a statewide summer reading program with many wonderful reading opportunities. According to Pamela Davenport, Director of Talking Book Services, this special program “offers students the ability to participate, learn, and most importantly continue to build their reading skills during the summer months. The library is able to offer a wide variety of titles in audio books and Braille. We also hold an annual summer reading party for our summer reading participants here in Columbia and this year we hope to have many more enthusiastic participants!” Talking Books Services has formed a partnership with the South Carolina School for the Deaf and The Blind and offers a special awards program each summer on the campus.
For more information about the 2008 Summer Reading Programs, please visit the Summer Reading web page.
Planning for the 2008 Summer Reading Program was made possible with federal Library Services and Technology Act funds awarded to the South Carolina State Library by the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services. The project was coordinated in part by Jane Connor, former Youth Services Consultant and Deborah Hotchkiss, Director of Library Development.