Building Community Through Book Clubs: Free Webinar

What a great group of librarians at last week's "Building Community Through Book Clubs" webinar hosted by Niche Academy! Almost 700 took part in the live session and the chat room was buzzing!

You can view the whole webinar for free, and a certificate of attendance is available if you want one.

During the session, BookBrowse Publisher, Davina Morgan-Witts shared actionable insights from BookBrowse's two most recent research reports: "The Inner Lives of Book Clubs," based on two surveys asking more than 5,000 people about their experience in book clubs; and "Book Clubs in Lockdown," a survey of 3,400 book club members conducted at the height of the pandemic in Fall 2020.

Topics covered include

• how the world of book groups is much broader than many perceive it to be.
• the factors most successful groups have in common.
• what book clubs look for in their books.
• what people want from a book group, and how well-placed public libraries are to meet this need.

We also talked about:

• the shift to virtual book clubs that started during the pandemic.
• how to offer multiple, diverse book clubs with minimal staff involvement by partnering with the community.
• how to create an inclusive and welcoming environment.

The program is relevant to public librarians, whether you are running book groups or providing readers' advisory to those in groups.