1700 libraries signed up for Get on Board and Read
Contact: Megan Humphrey
Campaign Coordinator
312/280-4020
For Immediate Release
October 20, 2003
1700 libraries signed up for "Get on Board and Read @ your library"
Libraries nationwide are "amped" for the start of the "Get on Board and Read @ your library" program, which is set to begin in November. 1700 libraries across the country have registered on the teen reading program’s Web site to date, exceeding the total number of registrations for previous teen reading efforts sponsored by ALA and Dean Foods (formerly known as Morningstar Foods), distributor and marketer of HERSHEY®'S Milks and MilkShakes.
New materials to help librarians promote the program will be posted on the program Web site at
www.hersheysmilk.com/getonboard when the program begins next month. Materials include sample press materials and programming ideas. Librarians can currently register on the site to receive a free program poster and bookmark delivered to the library.
A new incentive program will also reward librarians who reach out to teens and invite them to participate in the program. Incentives include 20 coupons for HERSHEY’S Milk and MilkShakes for librarians who submit at least 5 teen entries; 50 HERSHEY’S Milk and MilkShake T-shirts for those who submit 15 to 24 entries; and an autographed poster of Tony Hawk, for 25 or more entries. Also, librarians who submit a report on how they promoted the program, along with sample publicity materials, will be entered into a drawing for a $100 gift bookstore gift certificate.
To be eligible for incentives, librarians must send in all teen entries at the same time in bulk to ALA. Additional information on incentives will be available on the "Get on Board and Read @ your library" Web site.
"Get on Board and Read @ your library" encourages teens to check out one of their favorite books from their local library and create an entry about how the book is meaningful to them. Entries may be submitted in a written essay or a creative entry consisting of a poem, painting or video. Entries may be created individually or as a team. Each teen or team must have a local public or school librarian sponsor them in the contest by having the librarian fill out a sponsor form.
The grand prize for teens is a chance to meet Tony Hawk, a trip in which the librarian sponsor will participate, as well. In addition to the grand prize, "Get on Board and Read" is offering Tony Hawk skateboards as first-place prizes; copies of Hawk’s book, "
Hawk: Occupation: Skateboarder" as second-place prizes; and a one-month’s supply of HERSHEY’S Milks and MilkShakes as third-place prizes. Three prizes will be awarded to teens who submit the best essays, and three will be given to teens who send in the most creative entries in formats such as a painting, sculpture or video.
"Get on Board and Read @ your library" is part of The Campaign for America's Libraries, ALA’s multi-year public education initiative to speak loudly and clearly about the value of libraries and librarians in the 21st Century. For more information about the @ your library campaign, visit
