Book Clubs

We love book clubs! Adults are welcome to join our First Friday Book Club that meets on the first Friday of each month at 10:30 am. To see the list of books the FFBC is reading this year, click here. The Library receives 12 copies of each selection from the Arkansas State Library’s Center for the Book, so locating a copy to read is not a problem.

If you are already a member of a book club, read on for some helpful tips for locating enough copies of your selection for all your members:

We want your club to be successful and long-lived, and so have put together some helpful information about using the library to supply your club with reading material.

Check the library catalog before making your selection
If you have a lot of club members who prefer to borrow (rather than purchase) your book club’s selection, it is a good idea to first check the library catalog to see how many copies are owned by our library system.  Brand new titles (released within the last 6 months) may already have long hold lists, and may not be renewable once checked out.  Obscure or self-published titles may not be available at all, or only on a limited basis.  You may check the catalog by typing in the Search bar above.

Requesting copies through Interlibrary Loan

Interlibrary Loan is a service we are happy to provide you free of charge.  To get the most out of this service, you need to be aware of a few guidelines.

Individual members of your club should call or email to request an Interlibrary Loan book.  This avoids our requesting unnecessary copies, and saves confusion for the organizer who may have multiple copies checked out on her account and no good record of who took which copy.  Replacement costs for Interlibrary Loan materials may be high, so it is best if they are checked out directly to an individual.

We will request up to 6 copies of a title for book clubs.

Most Interlibrary Loans take about 2 weeks to arrive at the library once they are requested, but the timing can vary between 7-21 days.

Loan times are set by the lending libraries and may be shorter than our 3 week checkout period.  Renewals are often available, but not guaranteed.

Timing

Gathering a large number of books together on a specific day may not be simple.  Some may be checked out, and may even be overdue!  We will do our best to have them available when your book club meets, but we cannot guarantee this.  Our standard loan period for books is 3 weeks, with up to 2 renewals, as long as no other patron has placed a hold on the item.  Once an item arrives at the library at your request, you will have 7 days to pick it up, or it will be placed back in circulation.

Formats

Keep in mind that the library may have your selection in various formats, to suit the taste of all your members.  We carry audiobooks on CD or downloadable MP3, eBooks in Kindle and EPUB formats, and regular and Large Print.  You may check the availability of ebooks and downloadable audios by visiting EurekaLibrary.org and clicking on the Library2Go logo.

Happy Reading!