Cook Memorial Public Library District

Readers Services for Book Discussion Groups

Do you go from library to library trying to find a copy of the next book to be discussed in your group?

Do you ever get frustrated when trying to come up with a different and interesting title to offer your book group each month?

Have you been purchasing your own copies of books for your book discussion group? Are you running out of space (or money)?

Cook Memorial Public Library can help! The Readers Advisory Services of Cook Memorial Public Library has a variety of ways to support your book discussion group. We already support about 80 book discussion groups meeting in our surrounding communities.

We help you by:

helping you pick titles
gathering the number of books you need for each member and holding them at our circulation desk for pick up
offering you a vast stockpile of titles purchased specifically for use by book discussion groups and updated regularly with new titles.
including members of your group who are not in the Cook district by registering their current library cards in our system

We need some things from you:

A completed registration form listing all of your members, returned to the Readers Services Desk in the Fiction Room
one person from your group to act as contact person with the library
a name for your group (be creative!)
dates for your discussion meetings (e.g., 2nd Tuesday or 20th of the month)
choices of titles with the date you plan to discuss them as far into the year as possible.

GUIDELINES AND PROCEDURES
(Each group member must be familiar with this information.)

Guidelines:

Titles requested should be accessible through our library and/or our library system.
Titles should be at least a year old or on our list of “stock” discussion book titles.
Titles should not be current bestsellers (unless they are “stock”) and cannot have multiple general holds (reserves).

Remember:Your group always has the freedom to choose any title you wish to discuss. However, if the title you choose is brand new or a bestseller or not available through our system, your group will have to obtain your copies on your own for that particular discussion.

Procedure:

Officially register your book discussion group at the Readers' Advisors Desk in the Fiction Room.
Request a title for your next discussion date ideally two months before the date. Some groups choose several titles several months in advance. Even if you don’t plan to use our services for a newer title, please let us know the title. We keep a list of each group’s titles and dates, and that can prove useful for you in the future.
Once it is determined that your title will be available for the date requested, the Book Club office processes the request. Ideally, each group should get its books 3-4 weeks before the next discussion. The Book Club office and the Fiction Desk work closely to keep the process running smoothly, including keeping track of books not picked up by group members.*
Group members will be notified that their books are being held at the circulation desk. Please be prompt in picking up your books. We can only keep them on the hold shelf for 4 days. THIS IS A NEW POLICY AS OF MARCH 1, 2007 : All reserve items, including book club reserves, are subject to this 4 day ONLY hold limit. This policy has been established because of the high volume of reserves requested and limited space available to store them.
If you receive a call for a book on hold for you, and know you will not be able to read the book that month, please call the library to let the Book Club office or the Fiction Desk know so they can reshelve the book for another patron’s use.
If you know you will not be participating in your book group for a period of time, please let the Fiction Desk know. The book that would have been reserved for you will then be made available to another patron.

Remember:This process works smoothly most of the time as a cooperative effort between clubs and the library. We need groups to choose titles that are accessible and for group members to be conscientious about picking up their reserved books or letting us know when they won’t be using their books that month.

*It is assumed that a group member, who has not picked up a reserved book 3 times in a row, or 5 times in a year with no notification to the library, wishes to be dropped from the roster of the book group. Please notify the Book Club office or the Fiction Desk when you will not be using a book reserved for you or you know you will not be participating in specific discussion meeting, so those books can be made available to other patrons.

Book Discussion Group Registration Form