Tails & Tales Summer Reading Fun for Staff

Submitted by Trina Schlecht

Whether you have or haven’t participated in FCPL’s summer reading fun in the past, this year there’s a new incentive to join the fun! This is the second year that FCPL has offered a staff version of the challenge but it’s the first time that staff can earn a reward for participating in the program. Yes, you read that correctly. When you earn 500 points in the Tails & Tales Summer Reading Fun Staff Challenge, you can pick up a treat coupon from one of FCPL’s great community partners. Register now at forsythpl.beanstack.org or sign in to your Beanstack account and register for this summer’s staff challenge. Note: You can also participate in the adult version of the challenge but you are not eligible for a prize or reward in that challenge.

Speaking of rewards, how can you earn one? If you have not used Beanstack before, there are a few different ways you can earn points. You can earn 20 points for every 15 minutes spent reading, or for every title you log. You can also earn points for completing various activities that are part of the challenge. Basic activities earn 10 points each and “big” activities earn 25 point each. Many activities can be completed more than once. It’s easy to earn 500 points!

You can register now but don’t log your points until the program officially launches on May 26 or they won’t count. Summer Reading Fun runs from May 26 through July 31.

There are a couple of new features in Beanstack this year. First, there’s the Friends feature, where you can add friends who are also registered for Beanstack reading challenges, and see who is reading more. You have to accept the privacy settings to add friends or share your friend code with others. Not to worry, we have strict privacy settings so you can only see the number of books read or the number of minutes spent reading. We aren’t letting patrons (or staff) see the titles that others are reading. [If you really want to see what your co-workers are reading, join our Staff Reading Challenge!] There is also a new streak feature to encourage readers to log their reading every day. Beanstack lets you know how long your current streak is, and what your longest streak has been.

We will create a file of staff friends’ codes and put it on SharePoint. It is strictly voluntary, but you can compete with you co-workers to see who reads more if you want.