Every Tuesday on the second floor of the J. Paul Leonard Library in Room 286, a handful of students gather. Whether these students sit quietly and read or discuss their latest book adventure, from 6-7:30 p.m. anyone is free to join the book club. 

Elliott Scheuer, the course materials specialist at the library, created the book club as a space for students to carve out reading time. In between classes and time spent online, the book club serves as a place to read, discuss current books, make friends or even study. 

“I think anytime that you meet up with people in person, it builds more community than being online,” Scheuer said. “People are on better behavior in person than they are online. I think that you get more positive interaction.” 

Scheuer was inspired by another book club at Adobe Books in the Mission. Back in 2022, Adobe Books hosted a Silent Book Club where people could bring whatever book they wanted and sit together to read.  

“Instead of all reading a book together, people who like to read come and read whatever they’re reading,” Scheuer said. “It’s a place to meet other people who like to read and to discuss books and exchange book recommendations.” 

Scheuer wanted to provide a safe place for introverted students that want to make friends but partake in a lot of solo type activities. 

“I hope that people who meet each other in the book club would maybe then become friends because they have this shared point of contact,” Scheuer said.  

Scheuer designed the book club for students who find it difficult to set aside time to read material that isn’t a class textbook. A part of his job is helping students find class textbooks in the library to avoid having to purchase them. 

“I’ve personally come to really look forward to it, because when else in my life do I get an hour and a half to just read?” Scheuer said. 

Scheuer finds that the book club is a calm place to wind down. 

“I want it [the book club] to be like, ‘this belongs to the people who are coming or who want to come,’” Scheuer said. “That it can be as structured or unstructured, whatever kind of space they want or need it to be.” 

In a chronically online world, book lovers can find it difficult to map out a certain time to read. Scheuer faced this problem as well and wondered if others shared their dilemma. 

“You crawl into bed and you’re like, ‘I’m going to read,’ and then you got this bright shiny thing calling your name,” Scheuer said, holding up his cellphone. 

His advice for students creating a time to read is simple. 

“Come to the book club,” they said. “We’ve mapped it out for you.” 

A returning member of the book club, Chloe Fitzgerald is a sophomore at SF State studying biology. 

“I wanted to make friends, to be honest,” Fitzgerald said on why she joined the book club. “I feel like it’s hard to make friends in lecture settings ‘cause I feel like I plan to talk to people and then I immediately leave the class.” 

Scheuer got his bachelor’s degree in geospatial science from Oregon State University. They graduated in 2023 and currently attend San Jose State University taking classes to receive his master’s degree in library science. 

The Bay Area native moved back to San Francisco after graduation to be closer to their family. After being a student assistant at OSU’s library, he wanted to continue working as a librarian and started working at the J. Paul Leonard Library in August of 2023. 

“The satisfaction that you get from helping someone at a reference desk is immediate gratification because you really get to see the effect of what you’re doing,” Scheuer said. “I feel like I wouldn’t do well in a field where the effects of my work were very abstract, so I knew I wanted to be helping people, and I wanted to see the impact of my work.” 

Scheuer has two supervisors, Jamie Lamberti and Andrea L. Guidara. Both of them expressed his pride in Scheuer’s bright ideas. Because of Scheuer’s outside experience at the OSU library, they can provide his coworkers and SF State students with a fresh perspective. 

“He just provides this space for people to do what they want to do,” Lamberti said. “And I think that’s also building this sense of community because you’re seeing people you don’t normally see.” 

Lamberti, the circulation services supervisor, mentioned that Scheuer created a method for students to find available textbooks at the library. 

“There was a lot of staff turn over before he [Scheuer] got here, and so it wasn’t as cohesive, and he came in and immediately was just like, ‘I have ideas,’” said Lamberti. “He organized everything and became this really wonderful, smooth running system.” 

Now, students can look on the library’s website or ask a librarian to see if their school textbook is available to check out or use at the library. 

While taking the classes for his master’s degree in library science, Scheuer is receiving a real-time education by working in a library. He believes it makes him better at his job. 

“To me, he has a fresh perspective because he came from working someplace else and came to work at this library,” Guidara said. 

Guidara, the shelving facilities manager, describes Scheuer as proactive – bringing new ideas and solutions into the library. By the time she heard about the book club being introduced to the library, it was already happening. 

“He [Scheuer] just has ideas and says, ‘How do we get these started?’ and he does them,” Guidara said. “I think that’s really great.” 

Scheuer takes advantage of all the resources in the library. One of his favorite parts of the building is the Friends of the Library used book and media store. Scheuer said they use it as a rental service because books there are so cheap. 

At Friends of the Library, paperback books are $1 and hardback books are $2. Scheuer recalled discussing a book with his desk neighbor Jesse Ataide, the circulation assistant for the library. 

“I’m paying a dollar or two to maintain a service that I get to borrow books from,” Scheuer said. “And then when I’m done, I get to return them and someone else can read them.” 

Ataide and Scheuer have offices right next to each other at the library. Ataide said that Scheuer is very quick to help out.

“He’s involved in a lot of things,” Ataide said. “There was a joke made that ‘well, Elliott will volunteer.’”