Do students have to read all the books?

As a team, they should read all the books. Students are encouraged to read all the books, but with different reading abilities, some children read only one book, or parts of several books.

How can my library get started?

Make a commitment to start in the 2009 – 2010 Reading Link Challenge in your community by June 2009. Contact Ada Con by no later than June 30, 2009 if you wish to participate in a pilot project in your community. We need to know which libraries want to participate, to prepare for the information packages and question sets. You will need a staff member interested to pilot the project, and to commit staff time from the start of the program in the fall, when the schools are invited, to May of the next year when the challenges are completed.

Do I need other libraries to have a challenge?

No, just start small. The first time you conduct a challenge in your community, invite schools in your neighbourhood with teacher librarians you have a library connection with or wish to develop a connection. With one library system, challenges can continue to the grand challenge level, depending on the number of schools participating, as well as the number of library branches there are in the system. Another library system will provide the opportunity to have a grand challenge between systems.

Can I have only one team at my school?

More than one team is required to hold an “In School Challenge”. A suggestion in the first year of your pilot program is to have a minimum of two teams, and a maximum of five teams due to the costs of providing one set of books for each team.

How can my library afford this?

The biggest initial expense is the books. One set of books is required for each registered team. Books selected for the Challenge are always available in paperback. In the Fraser Valley, Coquitlam and Vancouver libraries, books were purchased from United Library Service. United Library Service also sponsored a number of author readings for the Reading Link Challenge program.

In purchasing copies, you can lend the books to the teams and ask for the return of the titles to be added to the library collection at the end of the Challenge period.

Apply for funding or grants for the book purchases. The Vancouver Sun Raise a Reader program, service clubs such as the Rotary and other programs funding literacy projects have contributed to book purchases. Other expenses include the prizes and refreshments. See the Sample Budget and the Sample Letter Requesting Sponsorship (MS Word, 570KB | PDF, 99KB).

Who selects the books?

A team of librarians from the Tri City Libraries and Fraser Valley Regional Library selects the six titles using criteria such as boy/girl interest, reading level, multicultural theme, Canadian /B. C. author. Because with these libraries an international videoconference is done with Seattle and Kalamazoo, at least three of the titles must be the same.

Who does the questions?

The same team of librarians from the Tri Cities and Fraser Valley Regional Library creates the questions. Multiple choice, true or false, short answer factual questions are asked. Sets of easy, medium and hard questions are mixed in the different levels of competition. A master list of questions is created so that all teams are asked the same questions at each level.

Do we keep the questions you send to us?

Yes, you may keep the questions and you may wish to use them again in another year.

Do we need to have prizes for the winning teams?

Yes, prizes can be fun and award the children participating. Prizes that relate to the theme of the books are amusing. You can keep costs to a minimum by seeking prizes from sponsors.

What kinds of refreshments are required?

At all the challenge levels, juice and cookies suffice. Bulk purchases of small juice cartons relieve the problem of bring paper cups with large juice containers. However, the children will welcome whatever works in your community.

How can we expand the challenge?

The first libraries in British Columbia to participate in the Reading Link Challenge project partnered with the Seattle and Kalamazoo libraries in a Global Reading Challenge via video conferencing. It is not feasible to expand this current arrangement to include more B.C. libraries but you may wish to add another level to the challenge with other libraries in your region.