We love books. Maybe you do, too?

Starting in 2020, when so much of the world went online, we wanted to do something to bring people together and start conversations, specifically centering themes of social justice — a virtual book club made sense! We’ve maintained a fairly regular schedule in the years since: a new book pick every month, sometimes with an author talk to follow, but usually a more casual meetup over Zoom to discuss the book. Since launching our Preservation Book Club, we’ve heard from a lot of people who tell us how much they love it. How many of those people have actually joined us for one of our meetups? Not many. (Shoutout to all of our loyal Book Club attendees, though!)

This year, we were planning to take a summer break following our June 8 author talk with Ariel Aberg-Riger (if you haven’t registered yet, we think it’s going to be a really good one!). But then we started thinking about what comes after that break. If what resonates with people is just the book recommendations, maybe there’s a better way to do that. So we’re going to spend the summer experimenting with a new format. Preservation Book Club, but make it Instagram. Book recommendations and related content without the pressure of showing up in a Zoom meeting. We have so much book/library/bookshop content to share that doesn’t always make sense for our main feed. If that’s your thing, follow along, share your thoughts in the comments, DM us to share your own recommendations, and let us know your local bookshop of choice. If it’s not your thing, no hard feelings. We hope you’ll still follow @preservenys for all the other preservation highlights you’ve come to expect from us.

We will definitely still do the occasional author talk, and maybe the Book Club Zooms will make a comeback too. But for now, we hope to see you @preservationbookclub!

And many thanks to the Peggy N. & Roger G. Gerry Charitable Trust for supporting Preservation Book Club since 2021!