How it Works

The book club will be an opportunity for social workers to read interesting books as a group and discuss them online through a private forum. Participants will earn 3 continuing education credits for each book that they read and pass a short quiz with a score of 80% or more. Participants will have two chances to take each quiz for credit. The group will complete a book every two months (six books per year) allowing participants to earn up to 18 CEUs per licensure renewal cycle. Please note your specialty CEUs will likely need to be acquired via another means to meat licensure requirements. Books will be selected based on the interests of the members and a vote between several options each period.
 

The time commitment for the group will depend on how fast you read and how much you choose to participate. This allows a lot of flexibility which we hope will be appropriate for people's busy lives.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How often will books be read, what is the time commitment, and what are the expectations?

The group will start by reading one book every two months but this may change based on members feedback. The books selected will be popular non-fiction related to social workers and take an average of 7 hours to read cover to cover. If you have between 15 and 30 minutes a week to read you should be fine. There are no strict expectations on members for this virtual community; if you are particularly busy with work, family or other obligations and can't read one of the books then it's OK. If you can only read part of a book and contribute a little to the online discussion then that's OK too. The goal of this program is to connect social workers together through important topics so participate as much as makes sense for you.

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Will there be any in person meetings of the book club?

The book club will be completely online so people can participate from work, home or traveling.

 

Is there any cost to participate?

Participation is $79 per year for NASW members and $99 per year for nonmembers. This includes taking the quizzes online for credit. We charge this fee to offset the administrative cost and to help ensure that participants are committed to this online community.

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How do I get the books?

Participants can get books for free at their local library or purchase them.
 

How do book club discussions work?

The book club will be managed by PBC Guru. One of their book club experts will moderate the private forum where discussions occur online. The moderator will pose questions to the group, share relevant articles and encourage conversation about topics in the book. Members will be able to post and share as well. This format allows for ongoing conversation and makes it easy for participants to connect with each other.

 

What if I don't have a Forum Profile?

We're using a private forum to host the virtual book club so it's easy to connect with fellow participants. During our sign up process, you will enter the information to auto-generate your free profile. After you complete the sign up, we'll send you a link to the forum and you can begin to post right away!

 

What exactly is PBC Guru, and what do they have to do with social workers?

Professional Book Club (PBC) Guru is a company founded to help organizations implement and manage professional reading programs. NASW-IL teaming up with PBC to put this program in place for members. 

What if my question isn't answered?

Feel free to send an email to info@pbc.guru and we'll be happy to help.