Church Libraries

Scarlett

Howdy from a bibliophile. Have lots of books. I am book poor.

First, get those books out of the closet and into a room you can make into a proper study space. Find yourselves an unused/underused room in your structure.

Next, build yourselves some shelving. Doesn't need to be fancy -- functional is always best.

Find yourselves some tables. Library tables would obviously be best, but if you are on a budget, pick up a couple of small dinette tables. Pick up some chairs for around the table. A couple of comfy chairs or sofa for casual reading would be a nice.

Let the congregation know the library is up and going. Solicit donations - books, periodicals, tapes (audio and video), AV-equipment, computers, etc.

Make yourself a database of books or card catalogue if you don't have a computer. Organize the books according to the Library of Congress system. (This is easier to keep track of than the Dewey system -- you can look up the call numbers on the net, mark the books, shelve them, and enter the data into your library's database with not a great deal of effort.

Do you have a volunteer/paid staffer who will man the facility on a regular basis. The whole thing, it seems to me, would depend on having reliable hours of operation.

Holler if you want more ideas.

Good Luck.
Jeff

 

Great idea, Scarlett.
Jeff has you started on the right track.
I did our whole church library which had more than 1000 books at that time. One of the Southern Baptist organizations actually has a church librarian school that I went to. You know there is such a thing as "book tape"? We used the Dewey system because that's what was taught and what had kinda been used. Sounds like the Library of Congress method might be a whole lot easier.
The first thing for us was to get them all cataloged and labeled. Depending on how many you have, a committee is a good thing.

Have fun.

Carolyn

 

Purple Lady made a great suggestion. Adopt the Dewey decimal system. It's a civic library standard!!

My church has a library that it well used. The literature is not limited to only the religious/spiritual/inspirational. There's educational material, biographies, and even a good collection of national geographics!!!

One way to get the volumes up is to hold a library bbq after church. Challenge the congregation to visit a used bookstore and pick up a hardback (they last longer) and bring it to the bbq. Anyone who brings in a hardback gets a free hot dog/hamburger/etc...

We tried something like this and received 10,000 volumes of good stuff in one day. That's a lot of franks!!!!