The five-year anniversary of the Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group ("FLBDG") seems like a good time to step back and review our mission. What is our mission?
I like to think of the FLBDG as the no-guilt book club. People come when they are able and interested and shouldn't feel guilty when they can't make it. The book club is sponsored by the Friends of the Fairfax Library, is held in the library's meeting room and is open to any interested readers.
Sometime during the 5 years, I started e-mailing the discussion questions to our e-mail list (which has over 80 names) which also acted as a gentle reminder of the upcoming meeting.
Are there any other changes or minor adjustments we could make to reach out to more readers? This blog is a start. I intend to post a link to discussion questions each month and then, after our discussion, post a brief synopsis of our thoughts on the book.
Below is a questionnaire I put together and I would love to get your thoughts on what we can do to make the FLBDG even better!
Questionnaire for Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group
1. Should we read…?
more current fiction
more themes in our selections (i.e. other cultures, gardens as metaphor, the sea)
more classics
historical fiction
more non-fiction (what kind of non-fiction? Memoirs, adventure, history, current events?)
keep the mix of novels/non-fiction we currently have
2. Would you like to see a brief synopsis of our discussions in an e-mail after our meetings?
3. Would you be interested in rating the books we read?
The library could post the ratings of our group for other interested readers. It could be a simple “thumbs up/thumbs down” or a rating from 1 to 10.
4. The book discussion group currently meets on the first Thursday of each month at 7 p.m. Would you be interested in meeting at another time or on another day? When?
5. Would you be interested in reading more than one book per month - for instance, if the subjects of the books are related?
6. Should discussions be more strictly centered on the discussion questions provided or should discussions be allowed to meander somewhat?
7. What is the ideal number of participants in a book discussion?
Has the number of participants in the library book discussions been too high? too low? just right?
8. Do you have any difficulty in obtaining the books chosen for discussion through the library?
Would that difficulty in obtaining a copy of the book prevent you from attending the monthly meeting?
9. Currently, discussion questions are e-mailed a few days before our meetings but other background information, such as author interviews, book reviews etc. are handed out at the meeting. Would you be interested in having that information sent as an attachment to an e-mail in MS Word format?
10. Are there any other improvements you would like to see made to make the Fairfax Library book discussion group more interesting or relevant for you?
Thanks for any and all suggestions/criticisms/advice you care to share with me!
2 comments:
1.I like the mix of non-fiction /novels.
2.Sometimes it might be hard to do,but whenever possible,it would be interesting.
3.I think this would be too hard.
4.Tuesday would be better for me, but I'll make as many Thursdays as I can. Yes for January and February; no for March and April.
5.No.
6.Please don't insist on the questions. Sometimes I can't answer any of them after reading the book.
7.We can't control this.
8. No, I can always get the book through reserving.
9.I would like the questions as I start to read the book. Attachments would work fine when I miss the meeting.
10.You do a great job, Beth. I really appreciate all that you do.
As far as rating the books, did you know that you can do this now in the library catalog? Each title allows a reader to rate it with 1-5 stars. It's a new feature and hasn't been used much yet, but book club members seem like the perfect folks to do this!
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