That meeting at the library made me rethink our whole book selection process

I went to a regional book club conference in Portland last month and heard a librarian named Sarah talk about how she picks books. She said her club votes on 6 options at once instead of one at a time, and the variety went way up. I tried it with my group and we ended up with a mystery, a memoir, and a sci-fi novel all on the same ballot. Has anyone else changed up how they pick their monthly reads?

2 comments

2 Comments

skylerm5510d ago

Honestly I used to think having multiple options would just make it harder to settle on something, but seeing it in action at my own club changed my mind completely. We threw up six books last month and the voting actually went smoother because people could pick their second or third choice instead of fighting over one title. The mix we ended up with was way more interesting than our usual picks, so I'm sold on this method now.

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jason_kelly810d ago

So you're saying it actually made things easier instead of harder? I gotta admit, I was pretty skeptical of that whole multiple-choice approach at first. Felt like it would just water down the whole thing and nobody would really be happy. But after reading your post and thinking back on a few times where we tried something similar at my old group, I think I was wrong. We did a thing where everyone brought a suggestion and we voted on a shortlist, and the final pick surprised all of us in a good way. People were more willing to give something a chance if it wasn't their top choice, you know? Your experience makes me want to push my current club to try it again.