March 2009

The Niceville Public Library in Niceville, FL is home to four book clubs. In this interview, Lora A. Glass, the librarian who facilitates three of the groups, shares the titles that sparked memorable discussions and describes the benefits of hosting book clubs in the library. She also talks about how her participation in the meetings enables her to enhance her skills in reader advisory service to both the public and other book clubs.

Q: Does your library host any book clubs? If so, are they based on a certain theme or genre (ie, mystery)? How often do the groups meet?

A: The Niceville Public Library hosts four book clubs that meet once a month. Our Mystery Club is the only genre-specific group.

Q: How many members are in each group? How many men, how many women? What ages are most of the members? Are the groups open to accepting new members?

A: We have the following groups at our library:
-The Last Word Book Club (formed in 2001) has 21 members --- all women
-Cover to Cover Book Club (formed in 2003) has 17 members --- all women
-The Mystery Book Club (formed in 2004) has 16 members --- all women
-The Tuesday Evening Book Club (formed in 2007) has 12 members --- all women

Q: Who leads the book discussions? Are reading group discussion guides used?

A: Three of our groups are led by me, while our Mystery group is led by one of their members. Reading guides are used when available.

Q: How are books selected? Is a new one chosen at each meeting, or are they chosen for a number of meetings ahead of time?

A: The members select a number of books ahead of time. Majority rules!

Q: What were some of the best discussions or favorite books the groups have read?

A: We enjoyed The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. We also had phone chats with the authors of the following titles: Lay that Trumpet in our Hands by Susan Carol McCarthy, Hell Hole by Chris Grabenstein and Stalked by Brian Freeman.

Q: How are book club meetings kept interesting and fun?

A: The members themselves provide a diverse background that adds to each discussion. The coffee and refreshments help, too.

Q: What advice would you give to other libraries that would like to start hosting book clubs, or provide resources for ones in the community? What are the benefits to hosting book clubs at a library?

A: Hosting a book club at your library is a great way to promote your resources as well as making lifelong friends. Plus, you get to talk books!

Q: What general advice would you give to book club members? Any specific ideas for making reading selections?

A: Don’t be afraid to try a new author or genre. Reading outside of your comfort zone can be great fun as well as expanding your mind to new ideas and concepts.

Q: How can book clubs better utilize resources at their local libraries?

A: We lend multiple copies of our book club books to various community book clubs. This provides a wonderful opportunity to share our materials as well as promoting our library resources.

Q: Does your library offer anything special for book clubs?

A: Our library provides the books for our members. Occasionally we provide author book discussions either by personal appearances or speaker phone discussions.

Q: Do you have any horror stories, amusing anecdotes, or other tales to tell that you have heard from book clubs?

A: What happens in the library stays in the library. HA!!

Q: Is there anything else unique or noteworthy about book clubs (either ones that meet in your library or ones that you know of) that you would like to share?

A: Our book discussion groups had a newspaper article written about them, which was noteworthy for us. We also had a treasure diver come in and speak with one group when we were discussing Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson.

Q: Are you a member of a book club? If so, what do you enjoy most about the experience from a reader's perspective? Does being in a book club enable you to better suggest both titles and discussion ideas to reading groups?

A: I consider myself a member of the three book clubs that I lead, plus I also attend our library staffs’ book discussion group. My favorite part of being a member of a book club is reading books I probably would not normally read. My participation in these discussions enables me to enhance my skills in reader advisory service to both the public and other book clubs.

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