Experiencing America Book Discussion Sets

Check out these videos from experienced discussion leaders with information about their library book groups and leading difficult conversations. You can also find them all on our Experiencing America playlist on our YouTube channel.

Christy Billings, Russell Library, Racial Justice book group

Video: Advice from the Racial Justice book group (11:25): including the founding of the Book Group, how to facilitate discussions, setting group guidelines, and developing discussion questions. Related links include:

• Links for BIPOC self care
• Sample email to attendees prior to book discussion
• Community Guidelines for book group
• Sample discussion questions
• Facilitating Meetings video by Community Voices Heard (7 minutes)
• Facilitation advice and guidelines

Rachel Tonucci and Elizabeth Lane, Bloomfield Public Library, Social Justice Book Group

Video: Where to Start (11:14): Including why BPL started the Social Justice Book Group, supporting staff, and supporting the program.  Related links include:

• BPL Social Justice Mission Statement
• BPL Strategic Plan
• National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ)
• Social Justice Committee Staff Survey

Video: Leading a Social Justice Book Discussion (16:51): Including facilitation, book selection, norms, and impact. Related links inlcude:

• Book Selection document
• Social Justice Book Discussion Norms
• Bloomfield Public Schools Professional Development
• Building Antiracist White Educators (BARWE215)
• NCCJ
• Courageous Conversations Compass by Glenn Singleton
• samples of marketing materials (flyers, social media, advertising, calendar posting language, etc.)

Video: Follow-Through (17:48): Including additional programs, actions, and collection development. Related links include:

• Seven Literacies of CT State Library
• DEI Report for Bloomfield by BJM Solutions
• BPL Black History & Culture Month Flyer
• Action Continuum

Additional Resources

• Bloomfield Public Library's Social Justice Program Group Norms for setting a supportive and constructive atmosphere
• All CT Reads: How to Lead a Book Discussion Resources including online resources and books to borrow from MLSC
• BookRiot's 50 Great Book Club Discussion Questions for Any Book to get you started with ideas
• Oprah Daily's The Best Book Club Questions to Spark Discussion
• I Love Libraries tips for Book Clubs, including how to lead a club, structure a meeting, facilitate a discussion, and troubleshoot.
• Also, these episodes of CT Pages ("Take a page from another library's book!") have good information about leaning conversations around equity, diversity, and inclusion.

So many title ideas! Look for copies of these books in fulfILLment and  findIT. Read these tips for more detail on requesting loaned copies from other libraries.

• Berbner, Bastian: In Search of Common Ground: Inspiring True Stories of Overcoming Hate in a Divided World 
• Coates, Ta-Nehisi: We Were Eight Years in Power
• Desmond, Matthew: Evicted
• DiAngelo, Robin: White Fragility
• DiMarco, Nyle & Robert Siebert: Deaf Utopia: A Memoir―and a Love Letter to a Way of Life 
• Goodwin, Michell: Policing the Womb: Invisible Women and the Criminalization of Motherhood
• Heumann, Judy: Being Human
• Kendi, Ibram: How to Be an Antiracist 
• Livingston, Robert: The Conversation
• McDaniel, Caleb: Sweet Taste of Liberty
• McGee, Heather: Sum of Us 
• Rothstein, Richard: Color of Law
• Shakur, Assata: Assata
• Smith, Clint: How the Word is Passed
• Snorton, Riley C.: Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity
• Taiwo, Olufemi O.: Reconsidering Reparations
• West, Lindy: Shrill
• Wilkerson, Isabel: Caste 
• Wilkerson, Isabel: The Warmth of Other Suns