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Veterans Awareness Book Club

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Description

Book club meetings are meant to provide an avenue for veterans, community members, and library personnel to come together to read about and discuss topics meaningful to the veteran population

*May coincide book selection/topic with awareness month toolkits (i.e. PTSD Awareness Month, Women’s History Month, etc.)

Audience

  • Adults, 18+ years old
  • Veterans, dependents, family, and friends
  • Veteran only meetings depending on the sensitivity of book club topic
  • Community meetings for veterans, dependents, family, and friends to help community members better know their veterans and engage veterans with their communities

Cost

  1. Collection development 
  • $0 - $1000/year (depending on current holdings) 
  • May utilize the interlibrary loan to create book club kits and decrease costs 
  1. Light refreshments (depending on the number of attendees) 
  • $25 – 100 
  1. Guest speaker/presenter (optional) 
  • $0-$350/presenter (depends on speaker’s fees)

Timing 

Host one to two book club meetings per month

*May coincide with awareness month programs and activities

Suggested Duration

  • Create a display for the topic/book selection at the start of the month and leave it up for the duration of that month 
  • Using awareness month topics as a guide, plan out one book per month for the coming quarter at the beginning of the final month of the prior quarter 
  • At the same time, plan book club meeting dates for each month and ensure books will be made available at least 3-4 weeks prior to each book club meeting  
  • Plan for 30 minutes to one hour to set up for the meeting, one to two hours for the meeting itself, and 30 minutes to one-hour post-meeting for clean up 

Resources needed 

  1. Awareness display 
  • Area to display information regarding awareness topic and book selection 
  • Available resources surrounding the awareness topic 
  • Handouts, bibliographic list of resources, etc. 
  1. Book club meeting set-up  
  • Pre-set questions to ask regarding book selection 
  • Available space/room 
  • Chairs (circular set-up to promote conversation) 
  • Refreshments (optional) 
  • Table for refreshments (optional) 
  • PowerPoint (optional; to promote further resources surrounding topic) 
  • Computer (optional) 
  • Projector (optional) 
  • Cord needed to connect the computer to projector input on the wall or directly to the projector (optional) 
  • Microphone (optional – if having formal presenters or guest speakers) 
  1. Marketing of book club programs 
  • Social media 
  • Flyers/posters 
  • Newspaper article 
  • Email blast to patrons 
  • Local radio advertising 

Tips for Success

  • Start planning early! Have book selections already prepared at least a few months ahead of time   
  • Ensure you develop questions to ask regarding each book selection to help guide the discussion as needed! 
  • Advertise early, frequently, and through multiple platforms and venues to reach the widest audience 
  • Ensure you have enough copies of every title for participants 
  • Involve veterans and other patrons in the process 
  • Ask for their input regarding book and topic selections 

Assessment Ideas

Attendees/participants: track the number of people attending the book club meetings each month 

Circulation: track how many people check out that month’s book selection 

Surveys: 

  • Asking the patrons various questions regarding the program 
  • Asking staff and organizers regarding their views on the program 

Track re-postings, comments, shares and/or “likes” of event advertising on social media (*May need the ability to track platform metrics to assess this).

Suggestion box: Provide an avenue, whether via a physical suggestion box, electronic suggestion box, or both, for staff and patrons to provide feedback.

Partners and Stakeholders

  • Community veterans, their friends, and their families 
  • Local news and radio outlets 
  • Local VA organizations/programs and their points of contact to assist with resources/suggestions 
  • Other community libraries (public, medical, academic, etc.) that may want to participate 

Additional Resources/Bibliography

General examples of potential book selections (not exhaustive): 

Utilizing PTSD Awareness Month as a topic (provided in the A Warrior Coping with PTSD toolkit by Bianca Brillant): 

Utilizing Women’s History Awareness Month as a topic (provided in the Women Veterans Throughout History toolkit by Bianca Brillant): 

Submitted by 

Jennifer Jones, Fargo VA Medical Center Library

Public Domain

This is a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Foreign copyrights may apply.

This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (LG-12-19-0114).

The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. We advance, support, and empower America’s museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. Our vision is a nation where museums and libraries work together to transform the lives of individuals and communities. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.