MAFB awarded most reading minutes

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Sahara L. Fales
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs
MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, N.D. --  Minot Air Force Base was awarded first place in the most minutes read during the Summer Reading Program this year, with a total of 1,150,457 minutes of reading time.

The Department of Defense sponsors the summer reading program each year as an Air Force wide competition that occurs throughout most military base libraries. It ran from June through August and was available to all members on base of all ages.

After coming in second place for the past three years, the Minot AFB Library implemented changes that allowed them to take the win.

"One of our main goals this year was to involve the Airmen a little more," said Julie Reiten, supervisory librarian of the Minot AFB Library. "We held a competition to see which squadron could get the most Airmen to participate. The 705th Munitions Squadron won."

In addition to marketing more towards Airmen and adults, the library also provided a database where members could log their reading times on the computer at work or home.

"Being able to log their minutes online instead of having to come into the library made it a lot easier for them to track their progress," Reiten said.

While some bases logged progress by the amount of words, pages or books read, the Minot AFB Library chose to track progress by the amount of minutes read by individuals.

"Because books come in all different sizes, we wanted to keep it fair throughout all age groups," Reiten said. "The amount of books read isn't the goal; it's mainly about the time they dedicated to it."

The program let members read any book of their choice, even allowing Airmen to read their Career Development Courses as an option.

"The whole goal of the summer reading program is to improve literacy skills," said Reiten. "It doesn't matter what you read as long as you're taking the time to do it."

The program is scheduled to occur next year and will be available to all members of MAFB.

The Minot AFB Library will be hosting a party to celebrate the victory on Nov. 8, at 12:30 p.m. All participants from the summer reading program are invited.