DOI: 10.5061/dryad.prr4xgz0m
title: Data from: Book club programs in United States academic libraries: A survey

description: Though case studies, informal publications, and academic library websites
 indicate that book club programs are happening in United States academic
 libraries, there is a lack of broad research on these programs to indicate
 where they are happening, their format, and their degrees of success.
 Aiming to address this gap in knowledge, this data comes from a 2024
 survey of United States academic library workers who have facilitated book
 club programming. The data provides insight into both trends and
 challenges surrounding book club programming in academic libraries and
 identifies best practices for practitioners, as well as a foundation for
 future researchers investigating these programs. 
description: The survey consisted of 34 questions and was created
 using Qualtrics. The survey questions were designed to address five main
 areas: institutional information, book club program planning, logistics,
 promotion, and outcomes. The survey included 29 closed-ended questions,
 with some questions including a request to “please specify” if
 participants had a different response, and five optional free response
 questions. Of the 34 total questions, seven were required. 
 The survey instrument was submitted to
 and reviewed by the University at Buffalo Institutional Review Board and
 deemed exempt. Subsequently, the survey was open for four weeks in the
 summer of 2024 and was publicized on ALA Connect, the online community for
 American Library Association (ALA) members, as well as regional and state
 library listservs. The survey received 133 responses. Only the 119
 participants who answered “yes” to the survey’s screening question were
 invited to complete the remainder of the survey. During the data cleaning
 process, twenty-six incomplete survey responses were removed.
 Additionally, one respondent’s answers were identified as inauthentic and
 subsequently removed. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes and
 response categories for open-ended questions, including those provided in
 “Other, please specify” questions. Where appropriate, the “Other, please
 specify” responses were re-coded into pre-defined response
 categories.  All open-ended
 text responses, including “please specify” responses for multiple choice
 questions, were removed from this dataset to protect the privacy of
 respondents. 
description: # Data from: Book club programs in United States academic libraries: A
 survey Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.prr4xgz0m](10.5061/dryad.prr4xgz0m) ##
 Description of the data and file structure The Excel sheet contains
 columns representing the survey’s close-ended questions and one row for
 each participant’s responses. These response options were provided to
 participants, either in multiple choice or multi-select question types.
 Multiple choice questions, for which participants had to select one
 option, are presented in one column. Blank cells for multiple choice
 questions indicate that the participant skipped that question.
 Multi-select questions, for which participants could choose all that
 applied, have one column for each possible response. Blank cells for
 multi-select questions indicate that the respondent did not select that
 choice. Please refer to the survey instrument for more information about
 the questions and response options.  Data from incomplete survey responses
 has been removed, as well as data from one completed response that was
 proven inauthentic. To prevent identification of survey participants, all
 open-ended text responses have been removed from this dataset.  ### Files
 and variables #### File: Cleaned_Data.csv **Description:** CSV file of
 data exported from Qualtrics. #### File: Cleaned_Data.xlsx
 **Description:** Excel file of data exported from Qualtrics. #### File:
 Survey_Instrument.pdf **Description:** PDF of Qualtrics survey instrument.
 Multiple choice questions, for which participants had to select one
 option, are presented in one column. Blank cells for multiple choice
 questions indicate that the participant skipped that question.
 Multi-select questions, for which participants could choose all that
 applied, have one column for each possible response. Blank cells for
 multi-select questions indicate that the respondent did not select that
 choice. Please refer to the survey instrument for more information about
 the questions and response options.  ## Code/software The data was
 exported from Qualtrics. No formal statistical analysis was conducted.  ##
 Access information Data did not come from any other source.