Biddeford librarians striving for reading record

BIDDEFORD – The staff at the McArthur Library is seeking to make it into the record books in its latest and most ambitious stunt aimed at celebrating the library’s summer reading program.

The four librarians, with help from two high school students, are attempting to read aloud for more than four straight days, a feat that would put them in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Their goal of 106 hours of uninterrupted reading would break the record of 100 hours, set earlier this summer at a library in Henderson, Nev.

The team started with Rudyard Kipling’s “Jungle Book” at 6 a.m. Monday. They intend to keep reading their way through a wide swath of English literature until 4 p.m. Friday.

Ground rules require the reading to be continuous, except for pauses as long as 30 seconds between books.

The McArthur team members take turns reading for 90 minutes, with a backup reader always on standby in case someone suffers a coughing fit.

The team must remain in the reading area in a corner of the fluorescent-lit children’s section, except for a five-minute bathroom break each hour and to go around the corner to a storage room where there are tents and air mattresses for sleeping.

Library Director Vicky Smith said her team had shuffled through several titles during the first hours of the reading marathon.

“We started ‘Evangeline’ but quickly discarded it in favor of ‘Pride and Prejudice,'” Smith said. “‘Pride and Prejudice’ didn’t keep us awake as well as it should, so we switched to ‘Sherlock Holmes.'”

No one other than two independent witnesses was paying much attention to what was read. On Tuesday morning, almost 30 hours into the endeavor, most team members were chatting or assembling a puzzle as Biddeford High School sophomore Julia Butler read aloud.

“You have to know that it’s happening, but nobody actually has to be listening,” Smith said.

Last year, the McArthur librarians camped out on the roof of their building for two days to draw attention to the more than 500 students who participate in the summer reading program.

Two summers ago, members of the library staff marked the occasion by dyeing their hair a neon hue.