How to create a reading list challenge

Library administrators and school staff can create reading list challenges to feature a list of titles for participants to read and log in order to progress in the challenge. Reading list challenges give administrators a way to track progress and motivate readers to complete required and suggested reading, for anything from classroom assignments and summer reading to book club picks.

The steps below will guide you through creating a challenge based on logging reading for specific titles. Remember that we always recommend creating new challenges or duplicating existing ones to launch new challenges, and strongly counsel against editing over existing challenges. And don’t forget to save your work often!

1. Log in and navigate to Challenges and click “Create a Challenge.”
2. Select “Log Specific Titles” as how people can earn badges. You can also select “Completing Non-Repeatable Activities” (libraries) or “Complete Activities” (schools) if you would also like to add activity badges. Then click “Next.” 
3. On the next screen, click “Create My Own Challenge” to create your challenge from scratch or select a reading list challenge template to load and modify.
   • Note: If you want to take advantage of in-app reading content, you must start with the desired reading challenge template that includes that content. 
4. Customize all your setup details within the first “Challenge Setup” tab and click “Next.” Depending on your site type, use one of the following for more details about each setting available to you:
   • Libraries
   • Schools
5. Go to your “Reading List” tab and add up to 30 titles you want to include in the challenge. Remember, readers will only earn progress toward your challenge badges and requirements by reading the titles included here.
   • You can add new titles via author name, book title, or ISBN, remove or rearrange existing titles, or add links to external reading content and catalogs. More on that here.
     
     
6. Click the “Badges” tab so you can add and edit the earnable badge types, badge time restrictions.
   • “Logging” must always be enabled as an earnable badge type for reading list challenges, with “Completing Activities” as an optional type if you want to add enrichment activities.
7. Add a registration badge by clicking “Add a Badge” under “Registration Badge,” select your badge image, and then set up any attached registration rewards.
   • Schools can skip this step if they automatically enroll their students in a challenge.

8. For a monthlong challenge, we recommend adding at least 10 logging badges in attainable increments that build on top of each other. To add your logging badges, follow the steps in this article.

9. Next, click the “Tickets” tab to set up a set up a ticket drawing. This is optional; if you’re not using tickets, you can ignore this step! Otherwise, see this article to set up a ticket drawing.

10. Click “Next” one last time to set your completion requirements.
    • Note: If your challenge includes a completion badge, readers will be notified when they hit the completion requirements by earning the completion badge. If your challenge does not include a completion badge, then you and your staff will be able to track completions in insights and reports, but readers will not be notified of completing the challenge when they hit the completion requirements.
11. First, set your badge completion requirements:
    • “Require All Badges” if you want readers to earn all the badges in the challenge in order to complete it.
    • “Require Specific Badges” if you want to select which badges readers must earn.
    • “Require Some Badges” if you want to set a number of badges readers must earn, within which you can also pick specific badges.
12. Then, set your title completion requirements. Similarly, you can select form “Require All Titles,” “Require Specific Titles,” and “Require Some Titles.”
13. Keep your challenge in draft mode while you’re finalizing and testing the details.
14. To publish, click the “Draft” dropdown, select “Published,” and then click “Save.”

Note: Once you save a challenge in a published state, it is live on your site!