When the BCLA Readers’ Advisory Interest Group minutes went out to the list-serv last week, I was excited to learn that Richmond Public Library will be leading a Walking Book Club this summer in partnership with the City of Richmond Parks. Participants will meet at a different park each month, June through August, to walk and talk as they discuss the book.
This idea sprang up betw
een me and a colleague in a discussion last spring–we didn’t get around to organizing it for last summer, but we were intrigued after we read about the program idea in a Programming Librarian post about the Roaming Readers Walking Club. We brainstormed partnering with the recreation centre attached to our library. What a great way to combine physical activity, literacy, love of reading, and community!
As a runner, my mind started wandering to how we could create a running book club–would people still be interested in discussing books as they ran, potentially out-of-breath, down the streets of Guildford in Surrey? Although we haven’t pursued either a walking or a running book club yet, the opportunity exists and it would complement the children’s BC Summer Reading Club theme: “Walk on the Wild Side.”
I’m curious to hear from you–have any of your libraries hosted walking book clubs or hosted other book clubs with a movement or physical activity component? As the first cherry blossoms finally start to appear in what has been a long west-coast winter, it feels like the perfect time to think about summer reading and outdoor book clubs!
-Meghan Savage, Information Services Librarian, Surrey Libraries
