Today’s students live in a digital world where reading competes with streaming, gaming, social media, and an endless flow of notifications. Yet the core truth hasn’t changed: students still crave stories, connection, and spaces where their voices matter.

Librarians are uniquely positioned to bridge that gap. Whether you’re using Follett Destiny® Library Manager, another library system, or a mix of tools, you can reignite reading engagement with three powerful strategies that came to life in Shannon McClintock Miller’s recent webinar, Reigniting Student Reading Engagement in a Digital World.

In the webinar, Shannon outlines these three key ideas and, most importantly, what they look like in day-to-day library practice:

1. Student ownership
2. Discovery and access
3. Celebration and community

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1. Empower Student Ownership: Let Students Lead the Reading Movement

When students see the library as their space, engagement isn’t something you push; it’s something they drive.

Center student voice and choice.
Shannon frames student ownership as a student-led reading culture, where kids recommend books, share opinions, and help create displays and campaigns that celebrate reading. From the moment they walk into the library, they should see their interests, authors, and favorite titles reflected back to them.

Practical ways to build student ownership:

• “You pick, we purchase.” Invite students to suggest titles they want to see on the shelves through catalog review, quick forms, QR codes, or even a library mailbox just outside your doors.
• Student-created displays. Turn bulletin boards and endcaps over to students: let a class,
  club, or grade level design rotating displays around themes like “Books That Changed Us” or “If You Liked…”
• Recommendation cards and notes. Simple sticky-note reviews or printed “From a Fellow Reader” cards attached to shelves let even your youngest readers share quick book love in their own words.

 

Extend ownership with Destiny Engage (and similar tools).

If your district uses Follett Destiny® Engage™, you can take student ownership even further:

• Students can set their own goals, track minutes, and see their reading history each time they log in.
• Students can create their own book clubs and challenges, choosing titles from your collection.
• Badges and progress views give students a clear sense of growth without reducing reading to just how many books they’ve read.

If you’re using another system, look for similar features: student accounts, goal setting, and any tools that give kids control over how they organize and share their reading lives.

 

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2. Amplify Discovery and Access: Make It Easy to Find the Right Book at the Right Time

The reality for our readers is simple: if finding a good book is harder than opening an app, reading loses. Your job isn’t just to house books; it’s to remove friction between students and stories.

Diversify the ways students encounter books.

Readers thrive when they have access to diverse voices, different formats, multiple genres, and high-interest titles that truly match their lives and identities.

Ideas to increase discovery and access:

• Surface books everywhere students are. In Follett Destiny Discover®, use carousels to highlight top checkouts, new titles, award lists, seasonal picks, or student-curated collections so every login becomes an invitation to read.
• Blend print, eBooks, and audio. Shannon regularly creates virtual “hubs” and choice boards that mix print books with eBooks and interactive digital titles, so students can read, listen, and learn in the way that works for them.
• Use choice boards and virtual shelves. Tools like Book Creator, Canva, Padlet, or simple slide decks can become interactive book hubs – students click on covers to watch book trailers, read a blurb, or open an eBook.

 

Put data and AI to work for you.

Shannon uses the Library AI Assistant in Destiny Library Manager to quickly answer questions like:

• What are the top books checked out this year?
• Which series are most popular?
• Where are we underserving readers (e.g., by format, topic, or age level)?

With that information, you can:

• Build more relevant carousels and displays
• Adjust purchasing to reflect actual student interest
• Create targeted promotions (e.g., “Most-Read Mysteries in Our School”)

Even if you don’t have the Library AI assistant set up yet, look for circulation reports and simple dashboards inside your current system. Anything that reveals what students are actually checking out gives you a head start.

 

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3. Foster Celebration and Community: Make Reading Achievement Visible, Valued, and Shared

Students are more engaged when reading is visible and valued, not something that happens quietly and individually in the corner. Celebration turns reading into a community identity, not just an assignment.

Celebrate readers, not just numbers.

Shannon emphasizes celebrating effort, exploration, and progress across all ages, from preschool through high school, and even with staff and families.

Low-lift celebration ideas:

• Reader of the week/month. Feature students on a Meet Our Readers board with their photo and favorite book, or showcase their picks in a special display.
• Student spotlights and swaps. Host book swaps, spotlight student reviews, or let kids design bookmarks and stickers that celebrate their reading identities.
• Reading passports and genre challenges. Encourage students to explore genres, formats, or themes and track their journey with passports, checklists, or digital trackers throughout the year.

Build a wider reading community.

Reading culture grows stronger when it extends beyond the library walls.

From the webinar, some powerful examples included:

• Partnering with the public library to cross-promote events, share reading challenges, and keep families connected to books year-round.
• Author visits (virtual or in-person) and events like Dot Day, which give students a memorable, personal connection to the stories they love.
• Book vending machines or birthday book programs, where every child gets to choose and keep a book. This reinforces that reading is something to be celebrated for everyone, not just the “top” readers.

 

Use tools to help make It easy.

Destiny Engage is completely integrated into Destiny Library Manager to make it easy to engage and celebrate readers. The intuitive dashboards and badges naturally lend themselves to celebration:

• Students see their minutes, goals, and badges every time they log in.
• You can feature book clubs or challenges on Destiny Discover, turning individual reading into a shared experience.

If you’re not using Destiny Engage yet, think about how you might re-create that visibility: hallway trackers, digital counters, or simple posters that show “books checked out this year” and celebrate progress together.

 

Start small: One step, big impact.

You don’t have to launch every idea at once. In fact, Shannon encourages librarians to start with just one:

• One student-led idea (a recommendation wall or student display)
• One digital tool (a carousel, virtual book hub, or AI-powered report)
• One celebration strategy (reader spotlights or a simple challenge)
• One reading promotion (a short-term club, bracket, or themed week)

Those small, intentional steps compound over time. They help students see themselves reflected in your shelves, your systems, and your celebrations, and ultimately transform reading engagement in big ways.

Whether you’re already using Destiny Library Manager and Destiny Engage or exploring which tools are right for your community, the heart of the work is the same: put students at the center, make discovery effortless, and celebrate every reader.

 

WATCH NEXT: To see how to make these ideas work in action, watch Shannon McClintock Miller’s free webinar, Reigniting Student Reading Engagement in a Digital World.

 

 

 

 

 

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Shannon McClintock Miller 
District Teacher Librarian & Innovation Director 

Shannon McClintock Miller is the Innovation Director of Instructional Technology and Library Media at Van Meter Community School in Van Meter, Iowa. She is also the Future Ready Librarians Spokesperson working with librarians, educators, and students around the world every day as an international speaker, consultant, and author who has a passion for education, librarianship, advocacy, technology, social media, and making a difference in the world and lives of others, especially children. Shannon brings a special expertise and vision to conversations around school libraries, education, technology, creativity, and student voice.