QUINCY/HANNIBAL (WGEM) – According to the National Endowment for the Arts, less than half of adults in the U.S. reported reading a book in the last year.
But, Tri-State public libraries have found a way to buck that trend this summer.
“We already know that kids have their Pizza Hut program and all sorts of awards for reading,” said Rachelle Gage, Quincy Public Library’s adult programming librarian. “But, what about the grown-ups?”
Gage started QPL’s Book-It and Beer events in 2022 to get adults engaged in reading.
“Less and less people are reading for fun,” Gage said. “And that’s really sad.”
Gage said adults who log at least seven hours of reading time on the Beanstack app will get a ticket to Book-It and Beer right outside of QPL.
The family-friendly event is a free night of pizza, beer, games, and a raffle, with more books to check out with the new bookmobile parked outside.
“It’s been growing every year,” Gage said. “I love being able to award adult readers.”
Gage said for the first time in QPL’s history, adult readers have read for more than 1 million minutes.
“We’ve read a lot more than we did last year,” Gage said. “A week ago, I ran the report, and we were at 870,000 minutes. We did a social media push to prompt people to keep reading… and they did it!”
Meanwhile, the Hannibal Public Library and Mark Twain Museum are partnering up to host a monthlong “Blind Date with a Book” event for adult readers.
“Each book is wrapped in a brown paper bag,” said Mark Schneider, the museum’s marketing coordinator. “With a short description, whether it’s suspense or adventure.”
Schneider said on Sept. 16, participants will gather at the Mark Twain Museum to discuss what they read, with the potential to trade books with one another.
“Maybe it’s something that you never would have picked up because of the author,” Schneider said. “Or because of the picture on the front cover.”
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