Running a Staff Book Group

Last August I decided it was time to include staff in our whole school literacy programme by setting up a Staff Book Group. Health and wellbeing would also be covered as reading has been shown to significantly reduce stress levels.

All staff were invited and from that initial meeting – 23 attendees and more notes of interest – we settled on a day and time for the first Book Group. We would meet once a month on a Monday after school in the Library for about 45 minutes. To keep it simple I had picked a book in advance which I was pretty certain that no-one would have read and which covered a variety of themes which would either appeal (or not) to most - ‘Station eleven’ by Emily St John Mandel. I e-mailed the choice to all staff and set the date for the first Monday of the following month. Staff were free to decide whether they borrowed the book from a Library, or bought a copy (paperback or e-book). Choosing the short-list is the most difficult task as I try to cover different genres and themes.

Fourteen staff attended the first Book Group proper. After a very lively discussion about ‘Station eleven’ over tea/coffee and cakes provided by myself we settled down to decide the way the Group would run in more detail. In the end it was decided that I would provide a short-list of 3-4 books from which we would vote for the next read. This book would be paperback and preferably one that was on offer either on Amazon or at a local supermarket. If staff wanted the paperback I would use my Amazon Prime membership to purchase the required number of copies and staff would then pay me for the copy or they could buy/borrow their own copy from another source. Thus books have been costing an average of £3.30 per person per month, and any change has been put in to the cake/biscuit/tea/coffee kitty!

The Group has been really popular and has members from English, Maths, CDT, Science, ALN, Social Subjects and Home Economics. It is great fun and we have read a wide variety of books over the last 9 months. Not all of the books have had great reviews from us – but it makes for an interesting discussion, however everyone agrees that they enjoy reading something different and it makes them take time to relax and read something that isn’t work related. With everyone clearly still so enthusiastic the Book Group will continue over the summer and next session.

 Yvonne Aitken - School Librarian, Inveralmond CHS, Livingston, West Lothian.