Who is a bookchain for?

Bookchains are for people who want to share their reading experiences, but don’t necessarily want to do this face-to-face with other readers. The anonymity offered by the bookchain allows you (as a reader) to let rip with your opinion and no-one knows it’s you.

Bookchains are great for

• keen readers looking for stimulus
• people who find it hard to choose what to read next
• people who want to tell others about the great books they have been reading
• people looking for something different but don’t know where to find it.

Bookchains include all kinds of readers. You don’t need a degree in literature or an inexhaustible appetite for books. An interest in trying something different and being open to sharing what you like, is more than enough.

However, in some libraries it’s the bookchain which kick starts a reading group as people experience the pleasure of exchanging opinions about books with other readers. It’s quite possible for readers to take part in both experiences, crossing over between the reading group and the bookchain: meeting and talking face-to-face in one and exchanging comments anonymously in the other.

What happens in a bookchain?

Participants submit a book of their own choice which is passed (via the library staff) to other readers in their chain. In return they receive books chosen by other readers. Reader comments are written on special bookchain reader comments sheets and participants collect and return their bookchain books from and to the library.

There’s no pressure for a reader to finish a book they don’t like, provided that they write a few words to explain why it didn’t work for them. The bottom line is that you get to try out two books chosen by other people – books you might never have picked up and you find out what other readers think of the book you chose.

At the end of the bookchain the reader comments and the books are displayed in the library for other borrowers to read.

What makes a bookchain successful?

Staff attitude is the single most important factor in the success of a library-based bookchain. In libraries where everyone is committed to making this reader-centred project work, the rewards for readers, staff and the library as a whole are significant.

• Staff satisfaction levels rise when they see the enjoyment readers get as both participants and observers. The bookchain comments displayed on a readers’ noticeboard have a far-reaching effect. Many library users depend on these recommendations when choosing new books.
• Regular library users welcome this opportunity to exchange books and opinions with other readers, especially the ones they would not normally meet. Seeing their reader comments displayed on a noticeboard as a resource for other library users gives additional added value to the experience.
• Bookchains are about customer service and satisfaction in its purest form. A library with a successful bookchain, which reaches out to the whole of the reading community, maxmises the opportunity to raise issue figures.