Dartmouth Library Wins State Reading Challenge; 1.1 Million Minutes Logged

The Dartmouth Public Library has dominated the SAILS Library Network, winning the statewide Minute Madness competition. According to a report by The Standard-Times, the library logged more than 1.1 million minutes and finished first among 15 Massachusetts communities. This year is the second year that Dartmouth Public Library has participated in the event, and it is the first for a championship win.

Minute Madness welcomed readers of all ages to participate. Readers were asked to track their time across books, graphic novels, audiobooks, magazines, and newspapers.

With this win, Dartmouth became the most-circulating community in the SAILS Library Network and the most-read town in the state, beating out communities such as Walpole, Dracut, and Holbrook.

To promote the reading challenge, library staff inserted a slip of paper with challenge details inside every book patrons checked out from the library beginning in February.

The North Branch Library also partnered with the nearby Potter School, with students logging their minutes read. By the end of the competition, the libraries had received more than 1,300 submissions from community members.

“People of all ages were logging,” Library Director Dina St. Pierre said in a statement shared with DartmouthWeekToday.com. “A lot of homeschooled kids were in competition with each other in their homeschooled groups.”

Now that the competition is over, library officials said they're exploring ways to keep the logging system active to sustain readers' motivation.