In Coventry we currrently run 8 Readers Groups within Libraries, one in Borders Bookstore, one in the BBC Open Centre and two in City Centre Cafe Bars. We are also in the process of supporting Ottakars in getting their Readers Group off the ground and we loan out our collections of Readers Group Titles to another 8 groups. As such, we publicicse our collection of Readers Group titles to the public and advertise the fact that Readers Groups which are run independently of the Library Service, can borrow our stock.
 
In the past we have bought in books that a group has asked for, which has then been voted for or against by members of the other groups. Those titles with the most votes get bought in and rotated around the groups. The only slight deviation here is with Borders (and I envisage the same being true for Ottakars) whereby each member of the group buys their own book (with a 15% discount off the cover price) if they want to. Those that don't (and there's usually only a couple) will have a copy bought for them which is then absorbed into the general library stock. In this way, the Readers here have slightly more flexibility in choosing their reads and it keeps Borders happy.
 

More and more however, due to the increasing numbers of Readers Groups in the City and budgetary constraints, we are moving to a system whereby multiple copies bought in for a promotion, such as The Orange Prize or Man Booker, will then be absorbed into the Readers Group Titles. What complicates the matter is that one of the City Centre Cafe Bar Readers Groups has 24 regular members and so the minimum buy for each title is 24.

Click here for the current Readers Group stock.