DEVELOPING A VIRTUAL LIBRARY AND BOOK CLUB

Libraries have played a very important part in the lives of people in their sixties and beyond because for many people the library was the place they went to for knowledge and enjoyment. Unfortunately some libraries have closed and all libraries require a journey from home so many people lose the ability to visit the library.  
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Some libraries have developed delivery schemes but many people miss the library they have been familiar with for decades where there are the newspapers, the non-fiction and the fiction in separate bays. The virtual library could open up enjoyment opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people and librarians could use their skills to help readers find what they want for information and entertainment including the running of book clubs.​

The virtual library would have huge benefits for the individual.  Obviously reading is itself a stimulus to cognitive development and can be emotionally very rewarding to but with the virtual library a key feature would be the virtual book club. Using Audible as a main resource, which has the great advantage of ensuring that all the people are at the same place in the book at the same time it could be a weekly book club or a daily book club covering a wide range of different types of books.  The benefit of the virtual book club would be that people could discuss with others their thoughts about, for example, whether Colin Dexter is a better crime writer than Agatha Christie.  Experts could give talks periodically to stimulate the book club.

The same method could be used with Radio and TV programmes