Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, comprised of 19 locations, implemented Beanstack for its summer reading program in 2017. “We were one of the earliest users of Beanstack and spent some time talking with developers who were creating the application,” says Jamie Collett, coordinator of organizational applications and data for the CLP. “Allegheny County Library Association libraries [a system of 46 independent public libraries, to which CLP belongs] were invited to join us during 2020 and the pandemic to be able to provide our users with an online ummer eading option when libraries were still closed,” she explains.
One of the key criteria librarians consider when selecting a platform for running a summer reading program is ease-of-use—for library staff and for the public. Collett notes that Beanstack stood out in this regard. “Beanstack was accessible from any computer with internet access and shortly [after CLP came on board] they developed an app to make the experience easier for the user who wanted to access their own account,” she says. “The library wanted something that could be accessed from any location across the city, so that our users could visit any library or multiple libraries. We also found that Beanstack was able to gather all the statistics of summer reading in one place, saving time and energy for staff.”
Saving time and energy helps considerably when librarians face the first crush of summer reading sign-ups after they have been publicizing and promoting the program in their local schools and communities for weeks. CLP holds an annual Summer Reading Extravaganza to make the program kick-off special; individual libraries typically hold summer reading launch events, too. The family-friendly celebration takes place on the grounds of CLP’s main library location in Oakland and features activities, crafts, storytelling, food trucks, a used book sale, and, of course, summer reading registration.
“Users who have a Beanstack account don’t have to enter all their information each year, they can just update information that has changed,” Collett says. “This makes signing up for summer reading fast and easy.” The platform helps streamline other basic program procedures as well. “Beanstack enables staff to easily look up users, record their reading, or run a drawing to find a winner for a prize,” Collett adds. “For staff, the best part has been the easy access to the statistical data. That data is all in one place—no one has to count reading tickets or gather numbers from 19 locations.”
Collett is especially enthusiastic about the information gleaned from that data gathering, which can inform future library programming. “Beanstack allows us to understand statistically the demographic of our users, lets us see trends in reading, and the age categories doing the most reading,” she says. “We can see trends in reading across the city based on participation data. [The app] enables the library to pull multiple types of reports to help us make decisions for summer reading.”
Despite having lots of data, Collett says that the pandemic disruptions of the past few years still make it difficult to determine whether Beanstack has increased engagement with or participation in CLP’s summer reading programs. “Certainly, for users who enjoy technology and like to use the Beanstack Tracker app, having a digital option for participation is super helpful. And for many people during the pandemic, having an online option was the only option,” she says, which led to more online participation than in pre-pandemic days. “However, the pandemic has impacted library use overall and that includes participation in summer reading,” she adds. “This means that the numbers don’t really tell us the story of how Beanstack may or may not have changed users’ behavior and their summer reading participation.”
Overall, summer reading participants at CLP have had mostly positive reactions to Beanstack—even if they’re not fully aware of it, according to Collett. “Some kids and families use the Beanstack Tracker app, and others have no idea that the library is using Beanstack to track their reading,” she says. “The app will scan the book’s ISBN number to quickly log the book. This makes it easy to log reading and sometimes it is fun to scan those barcodes.” Users who prefer to log their own reading say that they like being able to see all the books that have been read by their family for the summer, Collett notes. “Other kids or families love to walk into the library and bring their list of books to library staff so that the library staff can log the reading,” she adds. “It doesn’t matter how the person wants to experience summer reading, Beanstack allows users to participate however they like.”
For more on Beanstack's summer reading program, see our School & Library Spotlight.
