I found a few people who have very successful adult reading clubs, and asked each of them to share their stories so that other libraries can copy them as the summer reading season rolls around again. Lots of hard work, plenty of creativity, and some unique ways of marketing ASRC to the community and library staff. The actual execution of our ASRC is fairly standard.
Patrons sign up, read or listen to books, and fill out a review form.
Reviews are then thrown into a fishbowl, and weekly drawings are held to pick winners. Grown-up prizes like free food, rounds of golf, and theater tickets were big motivators for participation. But the execution is the simple part. The real work, and the work most likely to determine the success of your ASRC, begins long before the first patron is registered. Along with the ultimate goal of increasing circulation, we came up with three targeted goals.