Programming Spotlight - USF Health Libraries Virtual Book Club

Who:  USF Health Libraries hosted its first virtual book club!

When: February 2023 in the evening

Where: The book club was hosted on Teams. Registration was required through LibCal and 8 participants plus the librarian facilitators attended. 

Why: Librarians wanted to create a program for participants across the colleges to relax and connect. A book club seemed like the perfect event and had never been tried before. 
 
How: Advertising started 2 months prior to the event with flyers displayed in the library, email announcements, and a LibGuide on the library website.  Ten print copies of the book were available at the library and patrons were directed to other resources (Audible, public library) for copies of either print or eBooks in the selected title. Registration was capped at 30 participants with break out rooms planned for up to 10 patrons and two librarian facilitators each. 

What we learned:  We received feedback from a short post event survey. Participants were happy to have a place to relax and have an open discussion about the book. The people surveyed were excited about possible future book clubs and contributed suggestions for future titles. Based on this feedback, we are planning to host one book club each semester. Very few of the available books from our library were checked out by participants. In the future, we may include titles that are not available through our library to expand the options as we think people are accessing books through other sources. We will still plan to advertise other access options we find with our book club communications. 

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