Libraries for the Blind and Print Disabled

• Goals: To encourage GLS readers to read different types of books by various authors and styles of writing. To develop a connection between fellow GLS readers through reading and book discussions.
  
• GLS has 3 conference call book clubs (1 female group, 1 male group, and one co-ed group). Each book club meets once a month (eg., last Monday, first Wednesday) and meetings last for 60-90 minutes.
  
• The Clubs are facilitated by volunteer GLS users or by GLS staff.
  
• Each Group has 5-8 members.
  
• ALL books are from NLS collection. Book club members recommend books for the group to read.
  
• GLS is responsible for downloading the book selections for each member of the books clubs.
  
• The GLS librarian meets with the group facilitators via conference call once every other month to exchange ideas and make recommendations.
  

Utah State Library for the Blind and Disabled Book Group

• The book group is sponsored by the Library for the Blind and Disabled, but is open to anyone who wants to participate. We currently have participants from Utah, California, and Alaska.
  

• The book group meets for an hour on the afternoon of the 2nd Tuesday in January, March, May, July, September, and November. Participants call a toll-free number and are connected to a conference call. The discussion is led by a librarian from the Library for the Blind and Disabled.
  

• We require that the books discussed be available in DB format and prefer that they also be available in Braille and Large Print if possible. We ask participants to suggest books they would like to discuss, and then the participants select the next book from a list of possible titles. We provide copies of the book for patrons of the Library for the Blind, but not for other participants.
  

• The Book Club meets the second Saturday of the month for 90 minutes. Our reading choices can include fiction, nonfiction or biographies selected by participants at the end of the meeting. The group chooses books for up to five months ahead.
  

• Staff creates cartridges containing all of the upcoming selections and provides instruction on using Bookshelf to navigate among titles. For patrons who ask not to use the bookshelf feature, staff provides individual titles for those patrons.
  

• In our monthly email blast, we include a list of San Francisco Public Library branch book club selections that are available in an accessible format, either NLS recording or downloadable Overdrive audiobook. This is to support our patrons who may want to participate at neighborhood branches near their homes or with club focused on specific interests or needs, such as mystery, world literature or Spanish language.
  

• Our Book Club is currently meeting six times per year (every couple of months). We always have it on a Thursday or Tuesday at 7:00 pm Central time and it lasts one hour via conference call. We have a toll-free phone number so those of our patrons that want to participate can call in from anywhere in Texas. They don't need to have a computer or any type of special technology. All they need is a phone.

• We send an email blast six weeks before the date of each book club. We also announce the book club dates and titles via our Newsletter and our blog. Patrons contact us if they want to RSVP. We send them the book on cartridge, or they download the title from BARD, depending on their preference. One week before the book club, the patrons that RSVPd get a reminder via email or phone (or both if they wish).

• We try to pick varied titles: fiction, non-fiction, adventure, romance, classics, historical fiction, literary fiction, etc. Best sellers are a big one, too. We usually have a list of questions to generate discussion and we always have a lively, chatty crowd with stimulating conversation. Our patrons like it and we do too.