91´«Ã½

The Great Stories Club (GSC) has been a flagship 91´«Ã½ young adult programming model since 2006, and has been implemented in hundreds of libraries. During the 17 years that the GSC program has been implemented, 91´«Ã½ has found that this simple but effective, affecting, and popular model has brought about many important outcomes in the lives of individual participants.

Research and evaluation of the GSC has gone through several phases, in conjunction with different grants offerings. The design for each phase has included varied qualitative and quantitative methods, such as participant and project director surveys, interviews, focus groups, final reports collected from project directors, and other ways of learning about the impact of GSC on participants, libraries and their communities.

To further evaluate the effectiveness of the GSC programs, 91´«Ã½ has at times worked with third-party evaluators to develop and implement in-depth evaluation plans in order to better understand the immediate and longer-term impacts on young adults who participate in GSC reading and discussion programs; the effectiveness of different types of literature in inspiring meaningful reflection and dialog; and the progress that the project has made in further establishing specialized library programming for at-risk youth as a national priority.

Find more information about these third-party evaluation efforts below.

Great Stories Club: Deeper Than Our Skins and Finding Your Voice (2023 - 2024)

With support from the (NEH), was the external evaluator for the Great Stories Club: Deeper Than Our Skins and Finding Your Voice themes. PIE Org takes a collaborative, culturally responsive approach to evaluation and strategic planning that emphasizes making data understandable and actionable. The overall questions they asked of the project:

1. What is the impact that Great Stories club has on adolescents and emerging adult participants?
2. How has the Great Stories Club progressed toward further establishing specialized library programming for at-risk youth as a national priority?
3. In what ways can the Great Stories Club be improved?

Top level findings

Grant recipients shared that the program helped enhance a sense of community and belonging for participants, created a safe space for teenage patrons, strengthened community partnerships, and provided discussion leaders with experience facilitating difficult conversations. Program administrators were able to either develop or strengthen relationships with teens.

Overall, participating teenaged patrons reported that they became more interested in reading; enjoyed the book club discussions; had a better understanding of structural racism and inequality; and were able to reflect on issues of race and justice – all as a result of participating in the GSC.

Prior to the Great Stories Club program, 66% of grantee respondents reported that their library or institution did not have specialized programming for teens experiencing difficult circumstances (e.g., homelessness, incarceration). When asked about plans to continue the program, over half of the 2023-2024 grant recipients shared that their institution plans to offer a book discussion program that incorporates the Great Stories Club format either completely or with some changes.

• Read PIE Org's Final Evaluation Report
• Read PIE Org's Infographic

Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation (TRHT) Great Stories Club (2016 - 2020)

To assess the impact of the TRHT Great Stories Club program model and to inform evolving project activities and strategies during the grant term, 91´«Ã½ worked with external evaluators with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

worked with the 91´«Ã½ project team and 25 pilot libraries to produce an Interim Evaluation Report, which included a Theory of Change that guided project activity over the next year.

• Read BECOME's Interim Evaluation Report on the TRHT Great Stories Club pilot initiative

worked with the 91´«Ã½ project team and TRHT GSC libraries on final program assessment and evaluation. Their evaluation notes the following project results/findings, which are explored in greater detail in the Final Evaluation Report (July 2020, PDF).

• The GSC program effectively helped youth participants reflect on and better understand complex issues presented by the selected books and supporting materials (e.g., issues of racial injustice and social inequity explored in the Brave series).
• Youth participants were able to shift their perspectives and identify with characters and situations in the texts.
• Youth participation in the program increased interest in reading.
• Library staff experienced a parallel process of better understanding the same complex issues after participating in the program (e.g., they reflected on issues of bias, racial inequity, and social justice and increased their understanding of these issues while implementing the Brave series).
• Strong, sustainable partnerships were formed between libraries and community partner organizations because of the program.
• Racial healing circles were powerful experiences and supported youth participant reflection and dialogue on key issues of racial and social justice.
• The program was implemented with fidelity. Participating libraries implemented the required number of books, with the appropriate audiences.
• Library project directors were prepared to lead the GSC discussions and reported confident execution of the program due to the 91´«Ã½ orientation, supporting materials, and strong community partnerships.
• Relevant personal experiences, historical examples that related to the books, and 91´«Ã½-provided discussion questions were key activities and strategies that supported positive program impacts.
• No single activity or strategy worked in isolation—it was a combination of multiple types, aligned to the contextual needs of each library’s group, that spurred positive program impact.