[OPLINLIST] Prep time for Book Discussions - responses

[David Newyear]

I was asked to post the responses to the question: What do you consider a reasonable amount of prep time (including reading the book) for an adult book discussion?

The resposes:

"Our book discussion groups meet monthly. I like to read the book the week
before and then do the research so everything is fresh in my mind when we
go to discuss the book. Sometimes I will email the questions to discussion members ahead of time
so they have time to formulate answers -- this sometimes prompts people to
ask questions that they might not have thought of originally."



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"I confess I read our book discussion books on my own time, and the time
will vary depending on the thickness and complexity of the book.  I make
the bookmarks [include title, date, time and some information about the
author], prepare the refreshments, and set up on library time.  I'd say
1/2 - 3/4 hour for bookmark, 1/2 - 3/4 hour for getting books ready for
discussion and preparing old ones to be returned [we borrow from NEO-RLS]
and 1/2 hour for preparing refreshments and setting up."

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"I always try to get some background on the author which takes maybe 30
minutes. The book is another story all together. Sometimes they're short
and it takes 3 hours to read, other times they're tomes that take up to 10
hours to read. I usually listen to them in my car/at home or read them at
home/at work when able (which isn't very often)."



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"1-2 hours for creating all PR (signs, flyers, press release, and doing the display) - we create 1
sign for a series of 3 events

30 minutes to set up the space
60-75 minutes for the discussion
30 minutes to clean up the space

The reading of the book does not happen on work time."

--------------------------





The reason I asked is because one of my staff is requesting 2 hours of back time daily

to prepare for her monthly book discussion. 40 hrs of prep time seemed a bit excessive.





Thank you to everyone who responded!


David Newyear
Adult Information Services Manager
Mentor Public Library
8215 Mentor Avenue
Mentor, OH  44060

david.newyear at mentorpl.org<mailto:david.newyear at mentorpl.org>
skype: david.newyear
phone: 440.255.8811 x 248
Mentor Public Library: The Destination for Information

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