Students, faculty, and staff from all FDU campuses are all welcome to join FDU Libraries' Book Tasting Club!
Our club is a little different from other book clubs. What sets us apart? Our online gatherings provide an opportunity to share and explore—or have a “taste” of— a variety of books.
We don’t have “common reads” that we all complete for the same due date. Club meetings are designed to be a calming, no pressure space where readers can come chat, meet new people, and share what books they are reading (or have enjoyed in the past).
Whether you want to read all the time or want to read more, this is a great way to get new book recommendations! Participants come from a wide variety of backgrounds and have very diverse reading tastes. You can view previous book tasting club recommendations by clicking on the genre tabs at the top of this guide!
Below is information about our librarians who participate and how to contact them, our Club Community Agreement, which helps us to facilitate safer space to conduct book discussions, as well as when the next meeting will occur. We are always open to suggestions and welcome them, feel free to contact any of the librarians or staff listed on this guide for assistance.
This agreement is not set in stone. We encourage members to work with us to adjust this agreement as necessary so that it can be representational of all past, present, and future participants.
We are here to support and facilitate a greater variety of voices and thoughts. We only take issue when those freedoms take the form of physical, emotional, or social violence or oppression. We define oppressive behavior as any kind of uninvited physical contact, sexual or otherwise, as well as other behaviors that are racist, sexist, homophobic, or transphobic, ableist, classist, ageist, or otherwise discriminatory on the basis of physical appearance, sexual orientation, gender presentation, ability, or cultural, economic, ethnic, national, educational, or religious background. We encourage you to self-educate, (research unfamiliar terms, etc.) or reach out to a Librarian or Staff member if you feel confused.
What hurts one of us hurts all of us.
Don’t assume the race, ethnicity, culture, sexuality, gender, history with violence etc. of others. Instead, ask if someone is open to engaging in dialogue about identity. Don’t take it personally if someone doesn’t want to answer a question.
Try not to use oppressive language. If you make a mistake (and we all sometimes do), be open to being called in (Resources on calling in are linked here) and/or apologizing.
Oppressive language includes language that uses an identity or trait belonging to a certain group as a negative quality, or that trivializes experiences of violence or marginalization.
Respect everyone’s pronouns and try not to make assumptions regarding gender and sexuality. In each meeting, we will do our best to include our pronouns in our Zoom names.
We come together as a group of unique individuals who may be here for similar reasons, but who have varied backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives. When these differences are addressed in insensitive or uninformed ways, it can lead to unintentional forms of aggression (microaggressions included).
Respect the physical and emotional boundaries of others, we will do our best to be consistently mindful of others’ safety and comfort.
If you don’t want to talk or answer a question, say so. Try to vocalize what you need or ask if someone is comfortable advocating for you.
Respect the confidentiality of others. Respect the privacy of information and experiences that others share with you.
We hope to create an atmosphere of mutual learning and understanding. We all have an individual responsibility to expand our intersectional understanding of the world, self-educate, and be conscious of our privilege. It’s important to navigate these sensitive conversations without putting the burden of education solely on marginalized people.
Everyone (including you and us) will make mistakes.
We know that conflict and critical thinking can lead us to develop and improve both individually and collectively. With the interest of nurturing each other and our community, we welcome compassionate conversation when conflict arises.
We'd like to thank the following librarians for their work which inspired our Book Tasting Club:
