Your book club is where?

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When considering public libraries' involvement in social media, the biggest reasons for use tend to be marketing and communication with the community. Social media platforms are great avenues to connect with existing or potential library users, and I wonder about employing them more for virtual programming. I remember after the Covid-19 pandemic hit the US in March 2020, libraries like mine scrambled to still offer services to the community with virtual programming largely not being practiced. As a society, we often talk of how busy life is today and know nearly everyone has a device constantly at their fingertips, which begs the question... why are more libraries not using that knowledge to their advantage for virtual programming? 

A popular library program that could be moved to or have additional groups in a virtual setting are book clubs. With an increasing number of social media platforms out there that promote book discussion or discussions in general, now seems easier than ever to create and maintain virtual book clubs. The library I work at once had a virtual book club on Goodreads, and the advantage to that site is so many readers already having an account. Goodreads groups can be made private with membership needing approval, which helps to keep the group limited to the library's community. One drawback with Goodreads is the potential to drop spoilers into comments, and all comments for a book are found in the same place. This could be combated by only having a basic premise of the book displaying and not opening the thread for comments until a certain date. Fable is a relatively new social media app for book clubs that also allows private clubs. An advantage to Fable is comments being separated by chapters, meaning no one has any content unwillingly spoiled. Last year Book Riot gave a Fable Book Club App Review discussing how the app works and some of its features. The Fable website also provides book club basics on its own website to help users and club hosts navigate the platform. Fable allows sign-in through Google, which makes registration easy for those with Google accounts.

Personally, I'm somewhat steadily involved in one Goodreads group but no virtual library sponsored book clubs. As a library staff member, I help moderate our teen book club, but I would love to join adult library book clubs that read books of interest to me. (I cannot join an adult library book club of the library system I currently work in without being a moderator, and I love moderating the activity with teen book club.) However, nearby library systems do not hold any book clubs that intrigue me at days/times when I could meet. A virtual library book club would be amazing for my schedule, but that is not an option in my little world as far as I can tell. Because I see the need for it as a library user, I would happily help set up and run a virtual book club through social media as library staff, if ever given the opportunity.

What do you think of virtual book clubs done through social media for libraries? Are you involved in any already or would you consider joining one as a patron? What are your thoughts on implementing one as staff? This could even work for middle school, high school, or college students, given appropriate moderation by librarians / teachers.

Comments

  1. Natalie StansburyNovember 21, 2023 at 3:03 PM

    I have been part of a book club with friends for years. Recently I have struggled to get there (for many reasons from homework to exhaustion and simply not wanting to read the book choice because I so rarely have the time to read books I pick myself!). I have wondered of late if finding a virtual book club might work better for me. (Levar Burton is the coolest so I think I may have to check this Fable out!)
    I also attempted a teen book club a few months ago. I had two kids attend and read the book but interest was not as great as I would have hoped. I was chatting with our director the other day and wondered if perhaps I could motivate more by offering an online platform. So my reasearch begins! Thanks for this post to help me along the way! :)

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    1. Samantha MatherneNovember 21, 2023 at 4:49 PM

      I'm glad this information about Fable and GR might be helpful for your teen book club endeavors, Natalie! We started our teen book club in mid-2021 by first seeking out potential interested teens during the summer activities. Our meetings usually have at least 4-6 in attendance, which is great for any teen program. I do wonder how well a virtual group could work, though.

      My issues with book clubs also consists of not only the timing of meetings but book choice. I'd love to find a good virtual fantasy or YA book club for myself, but there are so many to sort through on any app! The answer might be joining and tryin, dropping and trying again, I suppose. On GR I'm in an active classics group.

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  2. Anna V.November 21, 2023 at 7:13 PM

    I love the idea of virtual book clubs. You're right—since everyone does seem to have their phone/tablet close by, the virtual book club is an interesting approach. I think it would be wonderful to have a meeting in person occasionally, just so everyone can meet. Also, the chapter limitations on Fable sound like a good way to prevent disappointment. When people talk about how a book ends, and I haven't finished reading it yet, it makes me want to flee, or stick my fingers in my ears to avoid hearing what happens ahead of time!

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    1. Samantha MatherneNovember 22, 2023 at 10:08 AM

      I haven't sought out a group on Fable yet, but I do like the chapter discussion feature. On GR you have to format your post a certain way to hide spoilers, and that can get confusing.

      For a virtual book club, the option to meet in-person once or twice a year would be great for members to get to know each other better.

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  3. Ellen DooleyNovember 21, 2023 at 9:01 PM

    I often think of the need to publicize some of the things we learn in our UB LIS program, such as the ins & outs of digital storage, archival storage, tech help. Book clubs are an excellent idea for outreach, and linking the to tech help for patrons who have a hard time accessing the library virtually would circle back to basic programming.
    I may have mentioned this before, but NYPL & WNYC's Alison Stewart have an adult virtual book club that you may like: https://www.nypl.org/spotlight/virtualbookclub and https://www.wnyc.org/shows/all-of-it/get-lit

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    1. Samantha MatherneNovember 22, 2023 at 10:24 AM

      I live in Louisiana, and I suspect most libraries would like virtual book clubs to be limited to their own patrons. I'm glad to see virtual is an option in your area, though!

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