The social life of books in the humane library

The development of public libraries may have inadvertently brought the age of marginalia to a close but now that digital copies no longer require us to refrain from writing in a shared text, it is possible to create sociable books, texts that sustain communities of readers. How might people respond to opportunities to share their readings through marginalia and how might the process of reading for pleasure be altered by situating it in a more social space? The current study examining sociable reading among a small group of middle-school girls demonstrates the potential of reading sociably and affirms the value of developing digital library books to support social exchanges among readers