Online Book Club

There are three reasons we hope you'll be excited to participate in One Book OCL:

1. Increase your connection to the Ocean County Library community: Our facilitated book club will broaden your connection to new ideas while also introducing you to members of your community from across industries, generations, and geographies. The connections and friends you make may help you find your next opportunity or assist you in reaching your goals.
2. Embrace lifelong learning and growth: Get exposed to titles you might not typically read. Gain new perspectives through engaging and thought-provoking online discussions. Increase your access to dynamic learning and personal growth opportunities when it fits your individual schedule.
3. Reading is good for you: Reading can reduce stress, help you sleep better, and improve your relationships. Did we mention it also makes you smarter? Reading increases your verbal intelligence, reasoning ability, emotional intelligence, and your creativity. It has even proven to defend against Alzheimer’s.

• We plan to start the book club by reading one book every two to three months. The texts selected will be a variety of fiction and non-fiction and should take an average of nine hours to read cover to cover. If you have between 1 and 2 hours a week to read, you should be fine.
• Participation is free for everyone with an Ocean County Library card! Don't have a card? Sign up online for a free Library card here.
• The book club will have a moderator from PBC Guru who manages the forum where discussions occur online. The moderator will pose questions to the book club, share relevant articles and facilitate conversation about topics in the book. Members will be encouraged to post and share as well. This format allows for ongoing conversation and makes it easy for readers to connect with each other through the forum.

Ocean County Library cardholders will have access to an eBook through Freading for each book selection. For more information on how to download the book from Freading click here.

The titles will also be available in print and audiobook through our library website, and digitally through OverDrive and hoopla.

All other participants or library patrons who prefer a different format can get a physical or digital copy through another preferred provider/retailer.

Reading Period 1: January 5, 2024 - March 8, 2024

Reading Period 2: March 15, 2024 - May 17, 2024

Reading Period 3: May 24, 2024 - July 26, 2024

Reading Period 4: August 2, 2024 - October 4, 2024

Reading Period 5: October 11, 2024 - December 13, 2024

If you are already a member, you can click here to log in.

Professional Book Club (PBC) Guru is a book club management company that works with businesses, alumni associations and professional societies. We are teaming up with PBC to put this program in place for patrons and the community. You can check out their website at www.pbc.guru if you want to see more of what they do.

The Freading eBook service has a free application in the Apple App Store and Google Play.

• Any computer or laptop running browsers such as IE, Safari, Firefox, and Chrome
• The nook family of devices
• Apple iPad® and iPhone®
• Android based tablets and phones
• The Kobo Ereader and Vox tablet
• The Kindle Fire, but not other Kindle Devices. If you have another version of a Kindle device, you can download the book from OverDrive. Please click here for Kindle Fire app instructions.