The librarian's guide to book programs and author events

The librarian's guide to book programs and author events

Brad Hooper

Book - 2016

"From hosting authors to planning and coordinating book activities such as book signings and book clubs, libraries are perfect venues for readers to interact directly with authors and their books. And mounting literary programming can be easier than you might think. In this guide Booklist's Brad Hooper inspires, encourages, and advises librarians in providing a wide range of programming that targets their communities of book lovers. Incorporating interviews from librarians in the field who share insider tips, this resource includes step-by-step guidance adaptable to any type of audience, from children and teens to millennials and older adults; shows how to plan author readings, coordinate book signings, and put together and modera...te an author panel; offers marketing and outreach pointers, including interviewing authors for local radio, library podcasts, or webinars; lays out the nuts-and-bolts of organizing and hosting book clubs, with suggestions for facilitating book group discussions; presents ideas for creating displays of "staff favorites" and other ways to get staff involved and engaged; and explores programs for community-wide book events, such as "One Book, One City." Using this guide, libraries can connect book lovers eager to learn about recent and noteworthy books to authors and fellow book lovers"--

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Subjects
Libraries > Cultural programs.
Reading promotion.
Libraries and community.
Public relations > Libraries.
Book clubs (Discussion groups)
Public speaking.
Authors > Interviews.
Literary prizes.
Published
Chicago : ALA Editions, an imprint of the American Library Association 2016.
Language
English
Main Author
Brad Hooper (author)
Physical Description
xxii, 135 pages ; 23 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9780838913840
  • Let's talk about basic public speaking
  • Book clubs, part I: the basics
  • Book clubs, part II: book discussion best practices
  • When authors speak
  • Author interviews
  • Panel discussions
  • Writer-in-residence programs and awards
  • One city one book programs.
Review by Booklist Review

Hooper, former Adult Books Editor at Booklist, here turns his focus away from reading books to book programming for libraries. This handbook offers tips on hosting author events, running book clubs, and using the library as a venue for general book promotion. Chapters cover public speaking (with helpful tips from the author, who ran successful author forums for more than 20 years at ALA conferences) as well as book-club basics and helpful advice on interviewing authors in person and in print, moderating panel discussions, and running awards programs. Hooper shines when giving from-the-trenches advice his tone is inviting and reassuring, particularly in the chapter Let's Talk about Public Speaking, where he graciously shares stories of his various experiences and relates when and how to use humor, how to suppress your nerves, the pros and cons of using a script, and how to use chocolate yes, chocolate to work the crowd. Throughout the narrative, there are interviews with librarians in the field who share insider tips, including one with Joyce Saricks on facilitating book clubs and one with Kaite Mediatore Stover on running large author events. Programming staff in all types of libraries will find Hooper's guide to be an accessible and useful addition to their professional-reading shelves.--Vnuk, Rebecca Copyright 2016 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review

What better way is there to engage and enrich a local community of book lovers than by hosting book discussions and author events at a library? Hooper (former adult books editor, Booklist; Writing Reviews for Readers' Advisory) describes how to plan and coordinate the many types of book-related activities such as book clubs, author appearances, and community-wide reading initiatives that would be a natural fit to a library's calendar of events. Despite the overly long and repetitive academic introduction, the substance of Hooper's guide is written in a conversational tone that encourages staff to get excited about planning their library's reading and book programs. VERDICT While the guide provides valuable information and insights, as well as suggestions of titles and a few useful websites, other works such as Brett W. Lear's Adult Programs in the Library, Chappie Langemack's The Author Event Primer, and Lauren Zina John's Running Book Discussion Groups offer more planning tools and publicity advice to assist staff in bringing their programming ideas to fruition.-Donna Marie Smith, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., FL © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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