Library hosting monthly book club meetings in person

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Strathmore Municipal Library is resuming its Busy People Book Club in person, which will be scheduled to meet once a month. 

“We actually did do a few sessions of it in person before the summer, and then they took a break through the summer because they had terrible weather all three times they went to meet and it really put the numbers down,” said Laura Henderson, public services manager with the Strathmore Library. “The Busy People Book Club has been running for a number of years online, and they have a Facebook group, and it worked out well because it is online while people are busy with work, activities with kids and all those things, but this still allows you to participate in a book club.”

Through feedback from participants, it was discovered that there was a desire to have in-person meetings in addition to regular online activity. 

Now, the library hosts the book club on the third Tuesday of every month beginning at 7 p.m.

“I’m sure any library wants book clubs, it just seems to go hand in hand, but the way we had been working, it just did not fit in. When we tried them way in the past, there just was not the same kind of uptake,” said Henderson. “By doing it on Facebook, the facilitator of the book club was able to have those conversations individually with members of the book club and she asked if she could stay later on the Tuesday evening to run it.”

She added public response thus far to the operation of the book club has been very positive, with members coming out even during instances of harsh weather to participate in the in-person sessions. 

An ongoing goal for the library and the club is to see more and more people coming out in person on meeting night to participate.

The club aims to read one book per month, with September’s read being “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing,” the late Matthew Perry’s biography. 

“We are going to continue to host it online … there will still be that online component, we do not want to leave anyone out. The whole purpose of doing it online was to have that accessibility to anyone,” said Henderson. “That conversation will continue, we are just adding this in-person one as well; it is an opportunity to get out and hang out with other people who have similar interests and who are reading the same book and have that in-person component.”

More information about the club is available through the library. Those who are curious are invited to call or email the library, or to drop by in person in order to get connected.