The Red Deer Public Library took part in the national Read for 15 campaign over the weekend.

The program, which is now in its third year, encourages Canadians to read for 15 minutes over the course of two days and then Red Deerians were encouraged to report it to their library using the hashtag #readfor15RDPL.

“We are trying to beat our record from last year,” said Jill Griffith. “We had the most readers — 15,000, but this year we want to win it all. We are asking everyone to read for 15 minutes for the two days. You can read anything, your tweets, your Facebook, books, magazines — whatever you like as long as you are reading for 15 minutes.”

The campaign was in conjunction with Family Literacy Day, which encourages families to read together.

“That was a conscious choice by the groups that started it,” Griffith said. “The more you are exposed to print, the more success you will have in life, and that is why we want family literacy to be a staple in every household.”

Griffith added that 15 minutes is something families should shoot for daily.

“Fifteen minutes is easy. Everyone reads for 15 minutes, whether you know it or not. Read to your kids, read to your dog, read to yourself — just read,” she said.

She added, “We are tring to be the most readerly community in Alberta and Canada”.