BURRILLVILLE – After exceeding last year’s goal by tens of thousands of minutes early on, librarians at Jesse Smith have issued a new reading challenge to the community for the start of 2022: Can Burrillville residents, collectively, log 25,000 minutes of winter reading?
Burrillville Reads, an online winter reading challenge, will launch again on Saturday, Jan. 1, with the aim of meeting the new goal through participation by residents of all ages.
Created last year as a safe way to connect with patrons amid pandemic-related restrictions, the program also offers a fun chance to earn virtual badges. In 2021, it was a huge success, with 85 participants, and an original goal of 10,000 minutes was increased to 50,000.
“We had increased it from 10,000 when we saw they were logging some serious reading hours,” said library Asst. Director Lori DeCesare.
Last year, librarians rewarded the community for meeting the stretch goal with a funny video featuring the staff doing silly things throughout the library wearing chicken hats, found here.
“You’ve accomplished so much while being cooped up this winter,” the video notes.
In 2022, participants have through Feb. 28 to earn all ten virtual winter-themed badges – with a new badge issued for every 60 minutes of reading for up to 10 hours through Beanstack.
An online platform used for both last year’s Burrillville Reads and the past two summer reading programs, Beanstack also offers a free tracking app for those who prefer to participate using their phones. Those who have already used Beanstack can log in to their existing account, or new participants can create an account by visiting https://jmslibrary.beanstack.com
For those not online, the library will also have paper tracking logs available. The facility will be closed for New Year’s Day Saturday, and reopen on Monday, Jan. 3.
For more information, patrons can call the library at (401) 710-7800.
