Questions to ask yourself include:
Is a book club feasible at your facility? Be sure that your warden and administration are on board.
Are your patrons interested? Garner interest from your population. You even might have had patrons approach you to start a book club.
Who will facilitate? You (the facility librarian) or a volunteer from the community? A volunteer will have to receive approval.
Where to meet? Consider the space for your group to meet.
How many will be in your group?
How will I get books? Take a look at the "Obtaining Books" tab for some ideas.
Consider a nonfiction book club. Maybe the group picks a particular topic that interests them.
Thematic book clubs. This could be seasonal (i.e., spooky, ghost stories for Halloween) or line up with highlighted history months such as Black History Month (February) or Women's History Month (March).
Genre book clubs. Consider organizing a book club around specific genres such as sci-fi, philosophy, history, graphic novels, self-help, poetry, short stories, etc. Ask your patrons what genre interests them.
For reluctant readers, consider reading groups that read very short works together such as short stories, news stories, or poems, rather than assigning books. Find material that is short, engaging, and thought-provoking that leads to good discussion.
Another possibility is to organize book talks. Have members of the group read different books and come together to talk about the book they read.
