Reading Well

Book clubs as an origin story for librarian professional development

Abstract

This paper is a conceptual overview of the twentieth-century American book club movement and its influence on twenty-first-century reading practices for librarians. The article makes the case that librarians embracing book clubs as a means of professional development is reaching back to those original literary societies that gathered for intellectual and civic empowerment and emancipation. Professional development outcomes from librarian book clubs are a response to how librarians read what the patrons read and how librarians read and interpret the work they do in the world.