INDIANAPOLIS — The Indianapolis Public Library is celebrating a record-breaking 2025 Summer Reading Program, with overall participation up 16.34% from 2024 and more than 26 million minutes read by kids, teens, and adults. A major driver of this success was a 62.65% increase in adult participation compared to last year.
More than 30,400 kids, teens, and adults took part in the 106th Summer Reading Program, which ended on August 2. Readers devoted 26,857,914 minutes to reading while earning prizes generously donated by community sponsors, far surpassing the Library’s goal of 20 million minutes read.
A total of 24,903 kids participated in the 2025 Summer Reading Program. For the fifth consecutive year, kids kept track of the amount of time spent reading instead of the number of books read. This allowed participants of all reading levels to have an equal opportunity to earn prizes such as passes to The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis Haunted House, the Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis Indians baseball games, IU Indy basketball games, books, dino stuffies, and more.
In addition, more than 8,400 kids attended free summer programs such as our Build It sessions, where participants learned basic woodworking skills, and the Junior Paleontology program, where participants explored Indiana’s geologic history.
A total of 5,517 adults took part in Adult Summer Reading, where they tracked time spent reading, completed activities challenges, and earned prizes. In addition, 436 adults attended free summer reading programs, including Art in Stone, Printmaking Paleoart, Guided Painting, and Exploring Paleontology.
