The Book Culture Club: Incorporating a Synergistic Approach Among an Academic Library, Authors, Potential Authors, and Publishers

The Book Culture Club at Hong Kong Baptist University goes beyond the traditional book talk format. Its vision is to nurture a culture that values reading, writing, and publishing books through a synergistic approach among the library, authors, potential authors, and publishers. Since its inauguration in early 2009, the club has offered eighteen programs and has attracted more than 1,200 attendees by March 2013. In this article, the author will describe how the Book Culture Club was formed, present a series of activities conducted, describe how events are prepared and implemented, discuss successful outcomes and offer reflections thereon, and demonstrate how good outreach initiatives for connecting many various parties can produce a long-lasting impact in an academic setting.