Tewksbury Library Taking Part In Minute Madness Reading Competition

TEWKSBURY, MA — The Madness has returned to the Massachusetts library scene.

Beginning Wednesday, March 1, Minute Madness pits 21 libraries from around the Commonwealth — including the Tewksbury Public Library — against one another to see which library's patrons can log the most reading time.

This year's all-ages competition opens with "free for all" week, from which the top 16 libraries will emerge.

Then, an NCAA Basketball Tournament-style bracket will be created as the libraries go head-to-head until a champion is crowned.

Tewksbury Public Library could find itself matched up against rivals like Wilmington Memorial Library, Burlington Public Library, Bedford Free Public Library and the Gleason Public Library in Carlisle.

In the fall, Tewksbury Public Library and Wilmington Memorial Library battled it out in the 2nd annual Reading Rivals challenge.

In an event in which patrons of each library logged their reading minutes over the course of nearly two months, Tewksbury avenged its 2021 defeat, logging 1,614,802 minutes to Wilmington's 1,338,218 minutes.

"Staff and patrons had a blast with Reading Rivals in the fall and we think everyone will have a great time tracking what they read this March during a unique and fast-paced reading challenge," Nicole Goolishian, assistant director of the Tewksbury Public Library, told Patch. "We also have a reputation to uphold in Tewksbury as the winners of Reading Rivals 2022, so we know this is going to be a fierce challenge."

All types of reading and listening materials count toward the competition, including: books, audiobooks, graphic novels, magazines and newspapers.

Patrons can sign up for the Minute Madness reading challenge on Beanstack. Though patrons who have signed up for Beanstack previously can use their existing account to enter the challenge.

Paper logs are available at the library's service desk or can be printed online.

After the "free for all" round of Minute Madness concludes on March 7, the top 16 libraries will be seeded No. 1 to No. 16 based on their minutes during the first week.

From March 8- 15, the head-to-head competition will feature No. 1 vs. No. 16, No. 2 vs. No. 15, No. 3 vs. No. 14, and so on.

From the round of 16, eight teams will move on to the round of 8, which will take place from March 16-22.

The final four libraries will square off during the week of May 23-29. The last two libraries standing will battle it out from March 30 to April 5.

The competing libraries this year are from:

• Bedford
• Burlington
• Carlise
• Danvers
• Dedham
• Georgetown
• Littleton
• Lunenburg
• Natick
• Mashpee
• Methuen
• Milford
• Newbury
• Northborough
• Rockport
• Rutland
• Sandwich
• Shrewsbury
• Tewksbury
• Uxbridge
• Wilmington

Tewksbury Public Library patrons can follow the competition on the library's website or on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Weekly score updates also will be provided on Wednesdays in the TPL newsletter.

If there are any questions about Minute Madness or logging minutes on Beanstack, patrons can visit the library's website or call 978-640-4490.