Reading groups

A reading group is a group of people who meet together to talk about a book they have read. Sheffield already has over 250 registered groups.

They usually read one book a month, and many groups take the book out for free from a local library.

Some groups read a particular type of book each month; others read something different each time.

You don’t have to be an expert, just willing to chat about what you’ve read.

Groups meeting in libraries

Groups meet in libraries across the city. These are free and open to all library members. 

Contact the libraries for details of upcoming dates, times and selected books.

Start your own group

To start a group, go down to your local library or contact them by phone or email. You’ll need to be a Sheffield libraries member to start a reading group, although not everyone in your group has to be a member.

If you're starting the group, it makes sense for you to be the group's contact person (you can choose another contact person later on). As the contact person you'll take responsibility for borrowing and returning the sets your group uses.

To become a contact person and start your group, you'll need to go to a library and complete an application form on behalf of your group and provide one official proof of ID (either something showing your name and address or a photo ID that includes your name). The group will then be given its own library card, which the contact person will be responsible for.

Once your reading group is set up, you can borrow sets of 10 books from any of our libraries by browsing online and reserving the set you’d like. You can reserve reading group sets by using our online catalogue and can arrange to pick them up at your local library. To do this you need to log in using your library card number and PIN.