On Friday, October 4th, the Special Collections and Archives Reading Room was transformed into a cozy bibliophile’s dream as ZSR hosted its first ever Silent Book Club. A Silent Book Club (SBC) is a social gathering where people read silently together in a public space. The clubs are different from traditional book clubs because there are no mandatory reading selections or discussions- the goal is to create a space for reading without pressure. For our first ever SBC meeting, we had 25 readers show up for this cozy reading event!

We provided blankets, floor cushions, and soft dish chair loungers for our readers and also provided blankets and had soft music playing in the background to help create a comfortable reading space. We also offered seasonal refreshments and tea.

The event space also featured a special pop-up exhibit from Special Collections and a Little Free Library, so readers could pick out another book to add to their TBR pile.

We were very pleased with this new program and will plan to offer more Silent Book Club meetings in the future! For more photos from this event, check out our Flickr album.