Not Just for Patrons: Book Club Participation as Professional Development for Librarians

Abstract

Librarians run book clubs for patrons, but do they participate in book clubs themselves? The authors of this article met while enrolled in the library and information science (LIS) master’s program at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where Shaindlin founded an extracurricular book club and Brown joined as a participant. Their experience inspired this study. The data reported derive from a 27-question survey created and disseminated in 2019. A total of 233 LIS professionals participated. The results establish that participation in book clubs is high among librarians and that participants recognize a variety of benefits. The results demonstrate that librarians’ commitment to an engaged book club practice presents entwined personal and professional development opportunities. Accordingly, LIS programs, librarian employers, and professional associations would do well to create and support opportunities for preprofessional and professional book club participation to increase participant learning, collaboration, social connection, and career satisfaction.

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