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G2S Project Code: 2015-CA-75018
State: California
Fiscal Year: 2015

Grantee
CALIFORNIA LIBRARY ASSOCIATION

Project Director
Director Name: Beth Wrenn-Estes
Director Phone: (626) 204-4071
Director Email: bwestes@mac.com

General Information
Title: California Summer Reading Challenge Software Development Project
State Project Code: 40-8579
Start Date: 10/01/2015
End Date: 06/30/2016
Abstract: The California Library Association (CLA) developed the California Summer Reading Challenge Software Development Project (renamed and here after referred to as Reading By Design) to help libraries manage, present, and engage communities with their summer reading programs. Through the Reading By Design (RBD) project, CLA worked with technology contractors, a team of California librarians, and project partners at the Library of Virginia to develop an innovative, open source software called BookPoints, which is built on the widely used Drupal software platform. CLA hosted online trainings for participating libraries, consulted with library staff by email and over the phone, and created documentation for libraries to customize their BookPoints sites. In addition, CLA provided a fully managed hosting solution, whereby the BookPoints software was hosted on CLA’s server and technology support was provided so that libraries could implement the software locally. Thirty-eight California library jurisdictions, as well as 8 public libraries in the state of Virginia, participated in the RBD pilot project, during which time the BookPoints software was developed and deployed by participating libraries to use as their 2016 summer reading program platform. Between December 2015 and June 2016, 514 librarians and library IT staff attended 67 formal webinar training sessions and participated in an average of 70 one-on-one phone conversations per month with technology contractors to build and customize their BookPoints sites. Participating library staff were also members of an active mailing list where they received information from project staff and could communicate with one another and with CLA, and a resource website dedicated to the RBD project provided access to 11 archived how-to webinar trainings and 23 instances of documentation. In addition, three participating library jurisdictions uploaded and implemented the optional “reading quiz” module that is designed to provide libraries with data that demonstrates whether summer reading participants maintain and/or improve their reading skills by participating in the reading programs.

State Goal: Goal I: Literate California

Budget Information

LSTA

MATCH-State

MATCH-Other

Total

$75,000.00

$0.00

$68,623.00

$143,623.00

Intent(s)
Improve library operations.
Research & Statistics
Systems & Technologies

Activities
Activity Details
Title: Reading By Design training webinars
Narrative: From January to June 2016, a total of 67 formal webinar training sessions were held to assist library staff with customizing their BookPoints software sites. 21 of these sessions offered during the earlier months were topically focused, with sessions focused on subjects such as basic system orientation, program setup, and design. The remaining 46 sessions were structured as an “office hours” session, with libraries dropping in virtually to ask specific questions of the technology contractors. 514 librarians, library staff and IT personnel representing 38 California library jurisdictions (see attached list) attended the sessions and learned how to work with open source software. In June 2016, project staff developed the program evaluation that consisted of a planning survey of participating libraries. The evaluation extended beyond this project period and the evaluation report will be concluded in fall 2016. Anecdotal results indicate that library staff who attended these online trainings are now familiar with using open source software tools that can be used for projects beyond the summer reading program.

Intent: Improve library operations.

Activity: Instruction
Mode: Program
Format: Virtual

Quantity
Session length (minutes): 75
Number of sessions in program: 67
Average number in attendance per session: 8
Number of times program administered: 1

Partner Information

Organization Type of Partner Organization(s):
Libraries: Yes
Historical Societies or Organizations: No
Museums: No
Archives: No
Cultural Heritage Organization Multi-type: No
Preschools: No
Schools: No
Adult Education: No
Human Service Organizations: No
Other: No

Legal Type of Partner Organization(s):
Federal Government: No
State Government: No
Local Government (excluding school districts): No
School District: No
Non-Profit: No
Private Sector: No
Tribe/Native Hawaiian Organization: No

Beneficiaries
Is the activity directed at the library workforce: Yes
For a targeted group or for the general population: General

Locale
Is the activity state-wide: Yes
Specific Locations: No
Library Types

Public Libraries: 38
Academic Libraries: 0
SLAA: 1
Consortia: 0
Special Libraries: 0
School Libraries: 0
Other: 0

Activity Details
Title: Ongoing interaction with library staff
Narrative: Reading By Design project staff provided ongoing, informal consultation by telephone and email to library staff to assist with the customization of their BookPoints sites. Consultations included answering questions related to setup, administration, reporting, customization and design of libraries’ sites.

Intent: Improve library operations.

Activity: Instruction
Mode: Consultation/drop-in/referral
Format: Virtual

Quantity
Total number of consultation/reference transactions: 420
Average number of consultation/reference transactions per month: 70

Partner Information

Public Libraries: 38
Academic Libraries: 0
SLAA: 1
Consortia: 0
Special Libraries: 0
School Libraries: 0
Other: 0

Activity Details
Title: BookPoints software application
Narrative: Project staff worked with technology contractors and librarians to develop and implement an innovative online summer reading software called BookPoints. The software is open source and fully customizable by libraries. It features elements of gamification, e.g. users create avatars and earn points and/or badges by reading or performing other learning activities. Reading quizzes allow libraries to demonstrate the value and impact of their summer programs. We convened a planning workshop and informational meeting in Pasadena in November 2015 and developed a project plan. Thereafter, we facilitated libraries’ use of the software for summer 2016 with: 67 online training webinars; one-on-one emails and calls with libraries; a resource website and listserv; deployment of the software for libraries’ use; hosting of library sites on CLA’s servers; and ongoing maintenance, management, and administrative support services.

Intent: Improve library operations.

Activity: Content
Mode: Creation
Format: Digital

Quantity
Number of items digitized: 0
Number of items digitized and available to the public: 0
Number of physical items: 0
Number of open-source applications/software/systems: 1
Number of proprietary applications/software/systems: 0
Number of learning resources (e.g. toolkits, guides): 0
Number of plans/frameworks: 1

Partner Information

Public Libraries: 38
Academic Libraries: 0
SLAA: 1
Consortia: 0
Special Libraries: 0
School Libraries: 0
Other: 0

Project Outcomes
Project Outcomes
List any important findings or outcomes from your project:
In June 2016, library staff who participated in the Reading By Design project were sent a planning survey designed by CLA to capture libraries’ experiences with the BookPoints software application. The results from the survey will demonstrate whether library staff were able to effectively use the open source software application to deliver a customized online summer reading program to their communities. Because the project focused on preparing libraries for summer programming, the majority of the project period involved planning and building out the BookPoints sites. Because of this, the findings from specific outcomes described in our grant proposal (i.e. participating libraries will assess the effectiveness of their summer reading programs using the new software; participating libraries will be able to report to government and local agencies about the impact of library services using data generated by the new software) will not be available until end of summer 2016. Results from these outcomes will be included in the 2016/2017 LSTA reports.
Please briefly describe importance of findings:
The Reading By Design project innovates the traditional summer reading program. It is purposefully designed to offer public library staff the opportunity to (a) engage underserved community members with library programs; (b) use built-in evaluation tools to assess and demonstrate the impact of their programs, and generate new data illustrating the critical role libraries play in helping to prevent summer learning loss; (c) efficiently manage and report on the effectiveness of their programs; (d) develop community-based summer programs that feature state and local partnerships and a wide variety of informal learning opportunities; and (e) provide an open source and affordable platform for further co-developing the software. The hosting service and supporting resources provided by CLA enable libraries to implement the software effectively, economically, and to its fullest potential. The need for children and teens to engage in reading and learning opportunities during the summer is well documented (http://www.summerlearning.org/). Children and teens who do not engage in educational activities during the summer experience learning loss, and more than half of the achievement gap between lower- and higher income youth can be explained by unequal access to summer learning opportunities. Public libraries’ high quality, free of charge, summer reading and learning programs provide all youth with opportunities to have an enriching summer and return to school in the fall ready to learn, regardless of economic status. BookPoints will help libraries motivate users to participate in their programs through the summer months. Library staff have a need for summer reading software that will help them engage underserved communities, manage their programs effectively during the busy summer period, and gather data to help demonstrate the impact of their programs. The flexibility of the BookPoints software, and the support provided by the fully-managed hosting solution, provides libraries with an accessible, tailored summer reading application. While the initial focus during this project period was to support, innovate, and enhance summer reading and learning programs, our long term goal is for public libraries to use newly developed skills gained from working with the BookPoints open source software to manage and engage communities with reading and learning programs year-round, including cumulative reading programs such as 1000 Books Before Kindergarten.
What methods did you use to determine your findings? Check all that apply:
Survey
Review of Administrative Data
Based on outputs, outcomes and/or other results, explain any significant lessons learned from these findings for either the SLAA or others in the LIS field:
In summer 2015, 16 library jurisdictions piloted a Windows-based open source summer reading software called The Great Reading Adventure (GRA). An additional 33 jurisdictions expressed interest in using the software for summer 2016. All stated a need for affordable, customizable, librarian-driven summer reading software that would help them engage more community members and measure the impact of their programs. Lessons learned from the 2015 pilot led to the creation of BookPoints, a new, flexible, and robust software application that incorporates the best of GRA while being built with widely adopted open source software tools including Drupal to create an application that is versatile and tailored to the needs of the library community. It was anticipated that 25 California library jurisdictions would participate in this new pilot in 2016 to develop and implement the software. However, due to enthusiastic demand, 38 California Library jurisdictions were taken on to participate. The workload for managing the needs of these libraries proved to be challenging for several reasons: 1) Each library had unique approaches to setting up their sites, which translated into ~140 different programs that had to be created (each library having 1-5 different user programs); 2) Participating library staff had various levels of technology skills, so a “one size fits all” training method could not be adapted and instead individualized “boutique service” attention was served to each library; and 3) The specific customization needs of all 38 participating libraries were demanding and difficult for project staff to initially keep up with. Based on this experience, the overarching lesson learned was that project staff are now aware that different libraries need to be able to engage with the RBD project in a variety of ways – some libraries will want to forge ahead on their own, some will require a lot of assistance and support, and others will want something in between. Project staff will need to offer libraries different levels of support and opportunities for working with the software, which will likely affect how the RBD project is managed in the future. Additionally, project staff know that we need to engage the participating library community more closely with the actual development of the BookPoints software itself to enable them to contribute more directly to its development and to ensure participating libraries have a sense of ownership and are committed to continuing to enhance the product for all libraries.
Do you anticipate continuing this project after the current reporting period ends:
Yes
Do you anticipate any change in level of effort:
No
Do you anticipate any change in the project's scope:
Yes: The scope of the project during this grant period was to build an open source software application from the ground up. Much of the time, resources, and training involved were in creating a tool that met the unique needs of participating libraries. While tailoring the application to continue to fit the needs of participating libraries is still a focus, more time will be dedicated to working on enhancing the established platform that has been created. These enhancements will include making it easier to on-board new libraries with a more staff-friendly interface, and finding opportunities to give libraries as much flexibility as possible while simplifying how options are turned on and off. In addition, the plan is to add new functionality so that the software can be used for other library reading and learning programs, including school readiness programs, and programs for community members of all ages.
Do you anticipate any other changes in the project:
No

Exemplary: No
Exemplary Narrative

Project Tags: summer reading, software, technology