Library Memberships and Book Clubs: What, Why, and How?
Library membership is an old concept, yet most of us make use of our memberships often. For a very long time, libraries have been providing their members with exclusive opportunities. Especially if you are a student or an academic, and research is a big part of your life, considering a library membership could make your life a lot easier.
We know that library memberships have benefits, but what exactly do they provide you, and what software should you use to manage your book club? In this article, we are exploring library memberships and giving you tips on creating your very own community.
Benefits of a Library Membership
Until the 21st century, libraries mainly provided offline services and required physical library cards. Through the years, libraries have become digitalized, and this has expanded their services, too. Nowadays, you can become a member of libraries digitally to use their online services and the physical facilities that they provide their members.
Access to Resources
Library membership card: Libraries give you a library card when you become their member. This card is a tangible indicator that you can use the services that we have listed below.
Physical collection: Libraries are hosts to thousands of books and periodicals. When you become a member of a library, you get access to their precious archives and even get to borrow them.
Digital collection: Libraries have been expanding their digital collections through the years. These collections can include any book, document, or recording that your library has digitally preserved. Alongside access to their physical collections, most libraries provide their members with access to their digital resources as well.
Audio and braille books: Libraries facilitate the research of people with disabilities too. If you are visually impaired, you can ask your library for their braille books. Most libraries have a braille collection along with the audio versions of the physical books they own.
Access to Other Facilities
Working environment: Libraries are one of the best places to work at. They are silent and comfortable with desks and lighting designed just for this purpose. If you’re in a rut, and can’t seem to concentrate on your work, try visiting a library. The beautiful environment filled with books will get you yearning for productivity!
Book meetings: Most libraries hold book meetings periodically. These meetings can be in the form of reading events for toddlers, interviews with guests, or get-togethers for people with similar tastes in literature.
Personal development: Libraries also provide their members with opportunities that help them on their development journey. You can get help from your library with improving your literacy, learning a new language, or even business and employment support as their member.
You can check out the public library services site of Ireland to further illustrate what other things libraries can establish for their members. The services that your library provides might differ from these, but it is important to know that chasing the opportunities presented by your local library can help you find just what you need.
Create and Operate Your Reader Community with Library Memberships
Are you already a bookworm and want to organize and manage your online book club? Here are 3 software recommendations you can use to help you with the organization of your very own community.
1)Discord
Discord is an instant messaging platform with many great features. It enables you to create your own server and add voice or text channels to it, so that you can communicate with your members through these channels whenever you want.
The advantage of Discord is that it gives you many options for communication. Using Discord; you can video chat with your members, have conversations through your voice channels or message them anytime you want.
It is also very easy to share your screen during video calls with Discord, which means that you can comfortably share any document you want with your club members. Using this option, you can share the parts of text you are referring to during club meetings, and even watch related videos together.
Discord is a great tool if your book club members are close friends, or if you want to create a warm community. As is the place for laid-back conversations and forming new friendships, Discord will make your book club a safe space for your members.
2)Slack
Slack is another software that facilitates communication among the members of a group. The communication options in Slack are relatively restricted but depending on how you want your club to be organized, Slack can have its own advantages.
While the target audience of Discord is people wanting to have fun, Slack has a rather professional image. If you want your book club to be more professional with less conversational talk, you can invite your members to join you on Slack.
Slack can also be integrated with other apps that will enrich your community! Using Slack as a kick-starter, you can reach people and lay the foundation of your community in a professional way.
You can read a related blog post here if you are interested in using Slack for the organization and communication of your book club.
3)Raklet
Raklet is a simple and easy membership management software. Using Raklet, you can create and follow your community without any extra hustle! The main thing that makes Raklet great is how easy membership management becomes with it.
Raklet is optimizable to your needs, and it has many options to make sure you have the best communication with your members. Raklet combines most of the features we have mentioned before and allows you to choose the best path for your community.
With Raklet, you can message your members privately or make general announcements. You can also create events, like in person club meetings, to keep your members engaged. You may need funds for your expansive meetings and events, and Raklet will facilitate the collection of member donations for you.
There are many other features of Raklet. Using Raklet, you can accept members to your club with customizable member forms, manage them through CRM, create personalized digital membership cards, and even define certain perks for them to use in the library; almost like offering them a loyalty card.
If you want your book club to be expansive and exclusive at the same time, Raklet is the best choice for you. If you are interested in using Raklet for your community, you can schedule your demo here!
Now you’re ready!
Libraries and books are the best for escaping the fast pace of life for a while. And when you share your love for books with a community of your very own, the experience becomes even better. Now that you have a good idea of how to use libraries and even build your own book club, you can immerse yourself in the joy of learning
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