[Michlib-l] book club kits questions

[Deb Hemmye]

Hi Laura, 

I realize this isn't the most popular way to handle book club books, but, although we have 8-10 copies of each title, we check them out one at a time. Here's why: 


    * it saves the book club person having to round up all of the copies she lent to her fellow club members after the meeting. 
    * it also absolves the book club representative of being on the hook for lost or damaged book club books. 
    * books come back one at a time so there are more likely to be copies available for the next user, rather than having to wait until someone brings back all ten at once. 
    * it allows more than one book club to use the same title. With people having so many different format preferences (digital, audio, physical audio, LP, etc) book clubs rarely need all 8 copies; this way there are often 4-5 copies left for another group. 
    * an individual can check out a book club book if our regular, hardcover copy is unavailable. They don't have to take 8 when they only need one. 

We did have one person, not from our library, complain that she had to place individual holds on 8 copies (or she could just come in and grab them off the shelf). My guess is that if she had asked her fellow book club members how many wanted a copy, she would have found that she didn't need 8 copies anyway. But I digress. Other than that, this system has worked well for us. I believe this is also the way the Farmington Community Library handles their book club "kits" and they are a much larger library than we are (Class VI). 

We do put a Book Club sticker on the spines of all of our book club books and they are housed separately from the rest of our fiction. We would also be happy to offer a bag for anyone taking out a bunch of the books at once, but so far no one has asked. 

Good luck with your new collection! 

Deb Hemmye 
Library Director 
Huntington Woods Public Library 
26415 Scotia Road 
Huntington Woods, MI 48070 
248-543-9720, ext. 686 

"But without questions, there can be no knowledge." 
>From When Women Were Dragons , by Kelly Barnhill 


From: "Michlib" <michlib-l at mcls.org> 
To: "Michlib" <michlib-l at mcls.org> 
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2024 6:53:48 PM 
Subject: [Michlib-l] book club kits questions 

Hello everyone, 

We're looking to start circulating book club kits and have a few questions. How do you package them? How long do you circulate them for? How many copies of the books do you include, and do you include anything else? Anything else we should know ahead of time? 

We were thinking of circulating 10 copies, and I was looking on Amazon for zippered canvas tote bags, but they all seem too small to try to fit 10 books. 

We appreciate any advice! 

Thanks, 





Laura Hauch 

Collection and IT Coordinator 

Buchanan District Library 

128 East Front Street 

Buchanan, MI 49107 

269-695-3681 

269-695-0004 Fax 

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