Special Topics Paper Summary

Men's Book Clubs in Public Libraries

Women participate in book clubs more than men. But why is this? For many years, women  weren’t encouraged to read or to engage in learning, so men had control over the educational and literary establishments. Men were the librarians in early western libraries and were those one could find making use of those institutions and taking part in reading groups. But then the pendulum swung the other way in the early 20th century, with most public library book clubs becoming overwhelmingly female or female-led and the majority of librarians being women. There are three possible reasons why men do not engage in book clubs as much as women: men do not talk as much as women, nor are modern men public “sharers” of their feelings; they don’t want to read the kinds of books usually found in library book clubs; and they are mocked when they try. Libraries can help with each of these issues to encourage more men to engage in book clubs or groups and to make these groups as welcoming and as open as possible.

There is a belief that women talk an average of three times as much as men do in a day, but it's a myth. Men men may believe this and are thus less inclined to join a book club because of all the talking that will be done by women. Men are not as comfortable sharing their feelings about topics, even books, with others, but are more comfortable doing so around other men. Men also are interested in different types of books than women and find the types of books most book clubs choose to read not interesting. This doesn't mean they aren't interested in literature or literary books, but that the focus of the books are different. The biggest problem seems to be the reaction to men who are in book clubs; the reaction is either they are gay for being in a book club or the type of book club is a threat to women or women's clubs. The shocking news in a 2016 article that men also have book clubs was met with ridicule and concern about how men's book clubs are poisonous, apparently to the existence of women's clubs.

So what can we as librarians and libraries do? We can help facilitate book clubs of a different nature that are geared toward men, without making them off-limits to women. Patrons will naturally gravitate to book clubs, groups, and other events where they feel comfortable, wanted, safe, and in which they are interested. If we start and encourage men’s book clubs or book clubs that read material of interest to men and women choose not to attend, we should be okay with that, just as we should be okay with men not attending women-led or -dominated book clubs. This is the current state of book clubs in libraries, in general, and there doesn’t seem to be an outreach to get men to join women in their clubs. As public libraries, we can’t prevent women from attending a “man’s book club,” any more than we can prevent a man from attending a “woman’s book club,” but we can make more of an effort to attract men to quasi-men only clubs. Men need book clubs just as much as women and we as librarians should be interested in getting the men of our communities reading and involved.