September 20, 2011

I am knee deep in research with my 5 abstracts for the Distributed Research Group. My topic is "Do physical (extrinsic) incentives work? Research shows that in the long term it does not. This makes me wonder, what is our actual goal with the summer reading program? Are we trying to get kids to read for one particular summer or is our goal loftier? Are we trying to make life long readers? I mentioned this to one of my staff members who is adamant that we should have buckets of small incentives, think Oriental Trading Company. She looked at me like I had two heads. I am just new enough to my job that I still have big goals and dreams. Why do we have to be short sighted with our programs? Yes, I want great statistics, but I want my patrons to gain for the long-term, not just one summer. Because a few staff member's children respond to the small trinkets and ask for them, I am perceived as out of touch with reality. One reason I chose this topic was that it hit so close to home. As a supervisor, I have to weigh the input from my staff, but also implement best practices. If becoming a life-long reader is the goal, then researching what works becomes harder. I look forward to continuing my assignment and gaining more information.