Burlington Public Library Holding Patron Appreciation Day

BURLINGTON, MA — The Burlington Public Library is inviting the community to its upcoming Patron Appreciation Day.

The event will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday at the library, located at 22 Sears St. in Burlington.

Patron Appreciation Day will feature cookies donated by Wegmans and MOM's Organic Market, raffles, music and special programs sponsored by the Friends of the Burlington Public Library, according to officials.

Though previously scheduled, Patron Appreciation Day will serve as a celebration of the library's recent victory in the Minute Madness reading competition. The monthlong bracket-style tournament featured 21 Massachusetts libraries competing head-to-head, with matchups decided by which library's patrons logged the most reading minutes.

In the final round, which ended on April 5, Burlington Public Library scored a 14.02 weighted total to Tewksbury Public Library's 12.83. The scoring algorithm factored in a library's number of reading minutes and its number of library card holders.

During the four-week competition, Burlington defeated the Peabody Institute Library of Danvers, Uxbridge Free Public Library, the defending champion Georgetown Peabody Library and Tewksbury.

Most importantly, Burlington patrons logged a total of 495,208 reading minutes during the competition, with everyone from listeners (young children who don't yet read) to adults participating.

Now, Burlington Public Library is honoring its patrons with a special celebration.

"We want to thank our patrons for their success in the March Minute Madness Competition," Library Director Michael Wick said. "We appreciate our patrons and want to say thank you for their support with a day dedicated to them."