Worcester Public Library wants residents to turn the page - and win prizes
WORCESTER — Say what you want about Phyllis from "The Office" television show, but her most relatable cliché is that bad weather is perfect to be home curled up with a good book.
The Worcester Public Library will reward you for doing so with its 1990s-themed reading contest called Adult Winter Reading Challenge. The event runs through February.
In order to participate, readers will be required to write short reviews of the books on an online social platform, according to Jennifer Marien, the interim deputy director for adult services at the library.
The reading contest will award three participants with prizes, also 1990s-themed, which include a collection of 50 CDs with a CD player-alarm clock, 100 Beanie Babies and 100 VHS tapes with a player and rewinder.
Each prize will also include a $50 gift card to local shops Joe’s Albums, That’s Entertainment and Elm Draught House Cinema.
Winter reading
“This is a way to get away from the winter reading slump,” Marien said Friday. “We wanted to bring something to the community, something fun, something engaging, especially for the millennial generation.”
Participants are expected to log in their titles and reviews on Beanstack, an online social platform catering to readers where they can track and share their reading progress, post book reviews, discover new books and use other resources.
Marien said reviews will earn reading badges, which will then serve as drawing tickets for readers, who can increase their chances of winning with the more they review.
In March, after the challenge turns its last page Feb. 29, library staff will hold a draw the results of which they will then announce on Beanstack, social media and through email.
“We have consistently done reading challenges for adults since 2018 to promote our resources,” said Marien. “Other ones have not been as thematic, but this one is a lot of fun, very detailed.”
The library also organizes a similar contest during the summer and is currently running a contest for young readers called “Read 1,000 Books before kindergarten,” for which readers can also earn badges on Beanstack.
For those who don’t know where to start with their cover-to-cover undertakings, the library has set up reading suggestions on its website which are organized by interests and genres, such as historical mysteries set in the 1920s, 1990s movies based on books, books with numbers in their titles and others.
Recent data showed that the library saw a significant uptick in borrowed books this year with over 623,000 items checked out, towering over last year’s 554,343 items loaned in 2022.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Worcester Public Library offers prizes for avid readers
