IPL Reading Challenges
Summer Reading – Summer reading, offered by IPL, helps prevent summer learning loss while fostering a love of reading. With activities for all ages like reading logs, book discussions, storytelling, and themed events, our programs make reading fun and interactive. Each age group also includes prizes or free books to encourage participation, while offering opportunities for social interaction and community building. Best of all, it is free and open to all ages, making it a valuable resource for families and readers of every generation.
Winter Reading – The Winter Reading Program at IPL kicks off with our festive Holiday Festival on the first Friday in December and runs through the last day of January, inviting readers of all ages to cozy up with great books during the cold months. Studies show that participating in reading challenges helps boost comprehension, strengthens memory, and even reduces stress—making it a perfect way to start the new year. Whether it’s tracking books, discovering new authors, or enjoying the fun of a shared community challenge, this program encourages everyone to stay engaged with reading well beyond the holiday season. Best of all, it’s free, family-friendly, and a wonderful way to connect through stories during winter.
IPL’s TALK Challenge – Join the TALK Reading Challenge at Independence Public Library and dive into great books while earning fun rewards! You can participate using our curated list of materials or by downloading the Beanstack app and registering for the TALK challenges online. Each challenge you complete earns you a prize—from commemorative glasses or koozies to canvas totes, t-shirts, and stainless steel water bottles. Complete five or more challenges for entries into our grand prize drawings, including a free year-long Business Lab membership, a $50 Main Street Bucks gift certificate, or a $50 Watermark Books gift card. The TALK Series is created by Humanities Kansas with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, HK Friends of the Humanities, and Western Kansas Community Foundation, and IPL is excited to bring it to life through reading challenges and online discussions.
Monthly Reading Challenges for All Ages – The Independence Public Library invites readers of all ages to join our monthly reading challenges, each with a fun new theme to keep your reading life fresh and exciting! From mysteries and memoirs to fantasy adventures and family favorites, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. These challenges encourage you to explore new genres, discover hidden gems, and share the joy of reading with our community. Plus, with new challenges each month, you’ll always have a fresh reason to pick up your next great book!
Added Bonus!
When you sign up and participate in reading challenges, you can get hand-picked recommendations delivered to your inbox based on the books you log!
How to Participate:
For more detailed instructions on using BeanStack please see the how-to guides at the bottom of this page.
1. Create an IPL Beanstack account.
2. Sign up for any active challenge.
3. Log your reading to earn badges and win prizes!
4. Visit the Library to pick up your prize!
BeanStack Instructions and Resources
- Visit this website (http://iplks.beanstack.org)
- Scroll down until you see the blue “Register an Individual or Family” button. Click that button.
- Choose whether you are registering yourself or you are an adult registering a child. An account may have multiple readers associated with it, so you can sign up with one account for multiple family members (other adults, teens, children, or daycare’s).
- If you are registering yourself, you will be asked to provide your information first.
- Please provide your name and email address (your email address is what you will use to sign into your account) and create a password.
- Please answer the required questions. The age and grade level questions make sure that each reader is assigned to the appropriate reading challenge. Adults need only to select “18+” for age and “Adult” for grade level.
- Once you are registered, you will have the opportunity to add other readers to your account.
- When you are done registering readers, you will be taken into your account. It will default to the first reader that you signed up.
- To switch between readers, click on the arrow next to the current reader’s name, and a drop-down list will appear of other readers on the account. Select the name of the reader you want to switch to. If you need to add a reader at any point after your initial registration, select “Add a Reader” from this list and enter the new reader’s information.
- If you have a large number of readers on the account, you will not see individual names on the drop-down list. Instead, select “Change Readers” and select the appropriate reader from the next screen.
- Congratulations! You are now successfully registered for our reading challenge.
- Click the “Log Reading” or “Log Reading and Activities” button in the upper lefthand corner of the screen.
- Select the accurate reader(s) and then the desired log type. Note that if readers are enrolled in a current challenge, they will only see the log types (books, minutes, pages, or days) used in that challenge. If they are not enrolled in an active challenge, they will see all active log types on our site. If they are enrolled in a reading list challenge, they will see an option to log for that challenge’s titles.
- Select the date for the reading session, keeping in mind that some sites may restrict back-dated logging so that readers can only log for dates up to 90 days in the past. Then enter any additional information, like title, author, and if you’d like to leave a book review. Note that some sites may have certain required logging fields, like title, and may allow or disallow logging multiple titles or completions at one time based on the site and challenge preferences.
- Click “Log.”
- The reading session will be added to the log and to any applicable challenge log. If warranted, the reader may earn badges, tickets, or rewards, which will pop up after logging.
- Once viewing a challenge, click over the “Badges” tab.
- Click any unearned logging badge and then click “Log Next Book/Minute/Page/Day.”
- Select the accurate reader(s) and then the desired log type. Note that if readers are enrolled in a current challenge, they will only see the log types (books, minutes, pages, or days) used in that challenge. If they are not enrolled in an active challenge, they will see all active log types on our site. If they are enrolled in a reading list challenge, they will see an option to log for that challenge’s titles.
- Select the date for the reading session, keeping in mind that some sites may restrict back-dated logging so that readers can only log for dates up to 90 days in the past. Then enter any additional information, like title, author, and if you’d like to leave a book review. Note that some sites may have certain required logging fields, like title, and may allow or disallow logging multiple titles or completions at one time based on the site and challenge preferences.
- Click “Log.”
- The reading session will be added to the log and to any applicable challenge log. If warranted, the reader may earn badges, tickets, or rewards, which will pop up after logging.
- Navigate to our BeanStack site and click “Sign In.”
- On the Sing In page, click “Forgot Your Password.”
- On the next page, enter the email or username attached to your account and click “Reset Password.”
- You will only receive an email to reset your password if there is an email address associated with your account. If there is not an email attached to the account, you will be prompted to contact a librarian to assist with the rest.
