Henrico Library earns grant to promote summer reading

The Henrico County Public Library has received a $2,000 grant from PBS and the American Library Association to host a variety of programs this summer related to the Great American Read, a nationwide initiative to encourage Americans to read eminent works of fiction. Programming will begin next month.

The Great American Read is an effort to investigate “how and why writers create their fictional worlds, how we as readers are affected by these stories, and what these 100 different books have to say about our diverse nation and our shared human experience,” according to the PBS website.

A central part of the initiative is an online ballot to determine the nation’s favorite novel. Visitors to its website can vote up to once a day for their favorite novel among a list of 100, which was determined by a poll from PBS. The list includes such titles as Crime and Punishment, To Kill a Mockingbird, Their Eyes Were Watching God and the Harry Potter series.

The Henrico public library is one of 50 libraries in the country to receive the grant, although more than 220 applied for it. To be considered, library employees had to send in a list of the programs that their library would host if they were given the grant.

“The funds will be used to promote programming,” said Patricia Conway, the community relations coordinator of HCPL. “This will include guest speakers and prizes for an upcoming reading challenge that will be kicking off in the libraries soon. What we’re trying to do is use the funds for high-interest and high-impact programs like our reading challenge and speakers for our film series.”

Margaret Allbee, the HCPL librarian who coordinates programming for adults, prepared the grant proposal along with Conway.

“We read the description of the grant from the American Library Association when it went out on the mailing list, and we thought it sounded really cool,” Allbee said.

Among the programs will be screenings and discussions of The Godfather and The Color Purple film adaptations, along with book clubs at different library locations in the county.

Besides events, about half of the grant money will be spent on prizes, Allbee said. The library will give larger prizes, such as Kindle e-readers and gift cards to places such as the Great Wolf Lodge and Escape Room RVA, to those who read the most books on the Great American Read list. Visitors to the library can pick up special bookmarks that they can later return to receive prizes.

“You win the prizes by filling out bookmarks that have spaces to write which titles you’ve read,” Allbee said. “Once someone has 20 titles, they can submit it as an entry to win one of the prizes.”

Broadcast programming planned
WCVE, the Richmond area’s PBS affiliate, will also produce programming related to the Great American Read, according to communications manager for the Community Idea Stations, Brynn Markham.

“We’ll produce stories on radio, television and digital content on the web” related to the initiative, Markham said. This will include content about prominent Richmond-area residents and the personal connections they have to certain books on the list. WCVE will also help advertise the programs at the public libraries.

“I think people completely underestimate what libraries have to offer,” Markham said. “So to be able to direct folks there so they can engage with events, then it’s great that we can get more people in their doors than would normally be there.

PBS will also broadcast a television show related to the event. The show, hosted by Meredith Viera, premiered on May 22 and revealed all 100 novels on the list. When it returns in September — after viewers have spent the summer reading the novels, PBS hopes — each episode will focus on themes explored in the various books. These include “Heroes,” “Villains and Monsters,” “Who Am I?” and “Other Worlds.” The debut episode is available for viewing on the Great American Read section of the PBS website.

Allbee hopes that the initiative and the programming will galvanize Henrico residents to read more this summer.

“By offering these programs, we’re hoping that we will encourage people to get back in the habit of reading if they have slacked off,” she said. “Or maybe they want to do some reading, but they don’t know what to pick and want some good ideas.”

Markham said that she can see the benefits of the initiative already, after watching the premiere of the show with her husband and son.

“If I put my 12-year-old in front of the television to watch this series, and he winds up with five books that he wants to read, then that’s a win for me,” Markham said. “And that’s exactly what we want to happen.”

The first program will be at Fairfield Library on July 10, where local film curator Enjoli Moon of the Afrikana Film Festival will speak before a screening of The Color Purple. Online voting for books is open until Oct. 18, and the winning novel will be announced Oct. 23.