Working document
The run sheet for one month of a book club
Everything a host actually has to do between one meeting and the next, in the order it has to happen, with the deadlines that make copies arrive on time.
Free resources
Resources for people who run reading groups
Free tools and guides for the practical side of a book club: copies, costs, calendars, rooms and the discussion itself.
Everything here is built for the person doing the work rather than for the group enjoying it. That means arithmetic you can put in front of members, a checklist you can hand to a substitute facilitator, and comparisons that tell you plainly when another tool is the better fit for how your club operates.
Alongside these resources, The Reading Room Ledger publishes reporting on the parts of this trade that are genuinely confusing: how library book club kits and interlibrary loan actually work together, what a public performance license means if you want to screen the film adaptation, how summer reading money is granted and reported, and what formal title challenges have changed for groups meeting on library property.
Free tools
Calculators for hosts who have to make the numbers work
Two small tools for the two questions that decide whether a reading group survives its second year: what it costs and whether everyone can get the book.
Comparisons
How BookClubRoster compares to the other ways a group gets run
Three fair comparisons for the host who is deciding where the next title, the headcount and the discussion questions are going to live.
Main guide
What really happens when a book club votes on the next title instead of the host choosing?
The pillar guide settles how a reading group should actually choose its next title, from nomination rules and ballot design to runoffs, veto rights and who keeps showing up.
Magazine
The Reading Room Ledger
Practical reporting for the people who run book clubs and library reading programs across the United States, one meeting at a time.
About
Who writes all of this
A short page on who writes The Reading Room Ledger, the monthly discussion groups and branch reading programs behind it, and why the kit calendar turns up in almost everything published here.
Take the run sheet, then look at the month
The run sheet, both calculators and the comparisons are yours with nothing attached, and plenty of hosts run a very good club on a pen, a wall calendar and the library catalog. If you would rather the ballot, the RSVP chase, the host rotation and the discussion guide all sat in one place, a demo shows what that looks like for a group your size. Twenty minutes, your own titles, no obligation.