Libraries Seek Reading Challenge Participants in January

Lincoln City Libraries (LCL) again invites the public to participate in a national reading challenge in January to compete for $35,000 to benefit a community reading program.  The Beanstack Winter Reading Challenge is sponsored by billionaire investor and “Shark Tank” personality Mark Cuban.  To support participation in the challenge, LCL will not charge overdue fees for anything returned in January.  Damaged or lost item fees will still be assessed.

The program challenges 250 libraries nationally to meet a collective goal of reading at least 5 million minutes and 75,000 books in January.  If achieved, Cuban pledges to donate $35,000 to top-performing libraries to use for their community programs or donate to nonprofit organizations in their area.

LCL was one of the winners last year to share a $10,000 donation from Cuban, with 2,658 readers and 1,569,495 minutes logged.  The $1,500 prize was used to benefit its Begin with Books program, which provides new books to low-income families. The program will again receive any prize money awarded in the 2019 challenge.  LCL has set a goal of 2.5 million minutes of reading for this year’s challenge.

To enroll, visit lincolnlibraries.beanstack.org or your branch library.  Booklets for keeping track of your reading time are available.  To qualify for the challenge, reading times must be recorded on the Beanstack site by January 31, 2019.  Beanstack is a specialized service for libraries and their patrons that offers personalized book recommendations and specific tools for learning.  To find out more about the service, visit beanstack.org.

For information about Lincoln City Libraries and its services, visit lincolnlibraries.org.