At the end of April, the ED. Dept at NYPL realized that we needed to pivot to a virtual summer reading programming experience in just two busy months. We also identified that our audience, pre-K through 12th grade New Yorkers, needed fun, engaging activities to do at home as in-person camps and programs were cancelled. We noted that many branch librarians had increased capacity to support central programming in late spring, and the shift to remote work also provided for more intra- and inter-departmental collaboration.

VSC involved large-scale collaboration by 47 staff from 37 different branches and numerous support departments. It included multiple entry points, including videos and accompanying downloadable activity guides, plus printed packets. VSC had relevant SEL-based themes and an inspiring narrative. VSC was exceptionally cohesive; it included badges that also referenced the traditional reading tracking program housed in Beanstack, ensuring each element of Summer Reading complemented one another.

• Project was taken from idea to reality in two months
• 50,000 packets distributed
• 19,000 downloads of SR collateral, including VSC materials, representing the greatest number of downloads of any material put out by NYPL
• 43 videos produced with thousands of views and counting
• Content used by local orgs to inspire vulnerable youth
• Bank of resources created that can be repurposed
• Systems developed that have allowed our deparment to produce similar programming (e.g. Virtual After School)
• Precedent set for further intra-library collaboration