Sunday, May 31, 2020
Monday, May 25, 2020
Sunday, May 24, 2020
Silent Book Club: An Easy Way to Provide Virtual Services During Crisis (or Really anytime!)
During the COVID-19 Crisis, we have certainly had to shift our instructional practices to meet the needs of our learning community in these crazy times! My initial interest in Silent Book Clubs came from hearing from my colleague Ginny Poepsel (vpoepsel@sdale.org) in Springdale that a student had requested a time/space online to just be in the presence of others to read.
After reading Cassandra Barnett's message to the Arkansas Association of Instructional Media about the Silent Book Club a few days later, I decided to give it a try. The first session of the Lakeside Silent Book Club was held on Zoom during a week when our virtual book club was to meet with the author of the book we were reading. When the author cancelled, I decided to give the Silent Book Club a try.
I promoted the event on the LJHS Library social media through some posts including a media found below:
How It Went
For our initial Silent Book Club, we had four participants. Although no student participants attended, four staff members attended. Probably the most awkward thing about the Silent Book Club, was understanding the norms. Since it was a "silent" book club, it was a bit unclear for the participants when, if at all, it was okay to talk. I opened the meeting by asking participants to hold up the book they were reading on screen so other participants could see what was being read.
To accommodate the silence, we ended up using Zoom's chat feature to share briefly about the books we were reading. One positive of the experience was that there was a definite reading "flow" that took place. Our meeting was originally scheduled from 2-3pm, however each member of the group was so engaged in their book, that I did not end the meeting until almost 3:15. (Likely if I had not said anything, I think the meeting could have gone on even longer!)
Future Implementation
Even though no students attended, I would still say that the goal of providing a safe space to read online was met. I think if I had advertised the meeting more and as students get used to this opportunity as a regularly scheduled library event, its popularity will continue to grow.
As I look towards the uncertainty of the fall, whether we continue with virtual instruction or will be back in face to face school, I would definitely be interested in holding Silent Book Club meetings in the future. Try it out virtually, or in your physical library space and please let me know how it goes!
Contact me on social media: @GoldenEagleLMC
@Brian_librarian
Bjohnson3@sdale.org
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