UB Libraries sponsoring virtual book club

UB bookworms looking for another outlet to discuss their favorite reads can join the virtual UB Libraries Book Group.

Members of the group read one book each month and then discuss it via the group’s site on goodreads.com. The book club is open to all members of the UB community and anyone else who wants to join the discussion.

Recent titles the group has read include “The Angola Horror” by Charity Vogel, “The Age of Miracles” by Karen Thompson Walker and “The Interestings” by Meg Wolitzer.

The UB Libraries Book Group began in May 2006 as a traditional, in-person club for library staff that met monthly at lunchtime, according to Ellen McGrath, head of cataloging for the Charles B. Sears Law Library, who currently leads the group with Archivist Amy Vilz.

Over the years, there were changes in the staff who attended, places where the group met and facilitators — or moderators, in goodreads-speak, McGrath says. But by summer 2013 “it was clear that the group was dwindling,” she says. “It seemed to be that staff were simply too busy to make the in-person meeting, even though the group tried a non-lunchtime meeting slot for a while. At that point, the handful of attendees decided to try to transition the club to an online book group.”

The club’s facilitator at that time, Stacy Person, director of digital library collections, then set up the virtual group in September 2013 using the goodreads platform.

Currently, 29 people are signed up as members of the UB Libraries Book Group on goodreads, but eight to 10 “actively add to the discussion on a regular basis,” McGrath says.

After transitioning to an online group, members held an in-person meeting last May to choose the books to be read.

“We added possible titles to the group’s goodreads site and then discussed them,” McGrath says. “We ended up having each person choose a title, which also meant they volunteered to moderate that month’s discussion on goodreads.”

The moderator needs to have read the book, she explains, so that she or he can start the discussion and monitor it to keep it going, which can involve asking questions about the book or sharing related websites and videos.

McGrath says the book to be read is announced on the goodreads site at the beginning of the month. Discussion takes place for one designated week at the end of the month.

“In this way, we hope to avoid ‘spoilers’ by people adding to the discussion too soon,” she says, noting that members felt it best to limit the discussion, although comments can be added at any time after the one-week period.

To join the UB Libraries Book Group, sign up for free membership in goodreads.com. New members to goodreads will receive a confirmation email that allows them to “join a group.” Type in “UB Libraries.”

UB members should send an email to McGrath or Vilz to be added to a special book club listserv that is used to communicate with the group.