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Why a Book Group?
Reading need not be a solitary activity. Getting together in a group allows you to share ideas, learn from others and develop discussion skills in an informal and supportive environment.
 
How Does it Work?
Groups meet on a monthly basis (same day and week e.g. 2nd Tuesday) on an informal basis in their own homes to discuss the book that has been supplied to them by the BDS (Book Discussion Scheme). The convener of the group distributes these at each meeting. Every member has a personal copy along with booknotes.
Book selections are made each year by the group from the BDS catalogue. A maximum of 10 titles are issued over the year. Discussions are from 1-2 hours duration and can be guided by questions contained in the booknotes. Books and booknotes are returned to the convener at the end of the discussion.

What Happens Next?
When you are ready to fill in the enrolment form you will need to:
Choose a convener to organise the group. There are responsibilities attached to this role.
Arrange a regular monthly meeting time to be held in each others' homes or another venue.
Choose your list of at least 25 titles from our catalogue. 
Complete the enrolment form and return it to us including a $25 administration fee (new groups only). Once this is received we will confirm your membership and arrange for the first despatch of books and notes.

What does it Cost?
Subscriptions are $50 per member, $30 conveners, for a maximum of 10 titles over the year, due 28th February each year. The subscription does not cover the cost of returning books to BDS. We recommend that groups have a separate budget for this expense.
For any groups with 6 or less members there will be a minimum group rate of $330. This applies to both existing groups re-enrolling and new groups. This rate has been introduced to encourage groups outside of our recommended size (7-12) to increase their membership. If you are in a small group there is time over the next few months to do some recruitment. If you notify us we can refer inquiries on.

Benefits of Joining a Group in the Scheme?
Access to an inexpensive source of good books.
Access to booknotes produced by commissioned notewriters.
Opportunities to meet regularly with others for stimulating discussion and companionship.
Regular additions of new titles to the catalogue.
Flexibility of meetings times and location.
Exposure to a variety of authors, books and ideas.
Being part of the largest bookgroup organisation in the country.

What the BDS Offers Groups:
The scheme supplies sets of books to over 750 groups in both urban and rural areas of New Zealand. Our catalogue has 600+ titles available to members. This is updated annually and new titles are added regularly. Our centre is based in Christchurch and operated by five staff including a co-ordinator. We are happy to assist with any matters concerning groups.

Categories of books include:
Fiction: classics through to contemporary as well as prize winners
Non-fiction: auto/biographies, travel, essays, personal stories, sociological, historical and environmental.

Publications:
Booknotes are specially written for the scheme and are supplied with the books. They contain commentary and information related to the text as well as questions for discussion. An updated handbook is supplied to conveners on a biannual basis. We distribute 2-3 newsletters each year via book parcels and email.

Who are We?
The FWEA Book Discussion Scheme started in 1973 as a pilot scheme and eventually expanded into a nationwide service. A number of groups have been with the scheme since its inception. Based in Christchurch, the scheme is administered by the BDS Committee, a sub-committee of the Federation of Workers Educational Associations Inc. (FWEA).

Contact:
Please note that the new BDS website (www.bds.org.nz) is being developed but in the meantime contact us by email. You may contact the BDS office at:
        FWEA Book Discussion Scheme
        Phone: 03 365-6210
        Fax: 03 365-6054
        Office: 72 Gloucester St, Otautahi / Christchurch 8140
        Postal: PO Box 1796
        Email: bds@bds.org.nz
 
The book, Telling our stories, was published in 2005 to mark 90 years of the WEAs in NZ - download the book as a PDF (1 Mb file) or email us for a complimentary copy. See page 2 of the book for a table of contents for a direct link to the page about this scheme.

Original website design by FirstBite. This page now maintained and designed by FWEA Book Discussion Scheme.