Participating in a bookchain is a great value-added offer to make to your readers. It capitalises on the flow of books from one reader to another and provides the means for readers to express their opinions about the books to each other. It is an opportunity for readers to extend the range of fiction they are reading and to get the odd surprise.
Libraries are the best places for bookchains to flourish – and library staff are the best people to make them work – giving added value to their readers. The bookchain is an ideal project for keen readers in school libraries, preserving the anonymity of readers while offering students opportunities to share reading experiences with readers that they probably wouldn’t encounter in any other situation in school.
These sort of reader-to-reader opportunities just don’t exist in bookshops.
A bookchain can be the starting point for other reader-to-reader activities. A library reading group could develop from a successful bookchain – with both groups co-existing and offering local readers two very different reading experiences.