Is There Still a Place for Church Libraries?

Goshen CRC had a library up until last year. No one used it :-(, and we wanted to use the space for our exploding kids ministry, so we gave away all the books and made a new nursery. 

my 2c. I think books/information has gotten a lot more accessible. The real value churches provide is curation.  So instead of a library, we encourage folks to read and pass along books. Ths pastor will buy books and give away. But either way, for better or worse, our unused library is no more. 

I'm very curious to hear responses. Ours is not used extensively, but it's hard to know why. Is it because we have a great public library? online books and Kindle? our book selection? Some have asked for us to move the media center to a more central location to increase visibility, but will that change things? It's difficult to know.

Do other churches have policies in place or mission statements for their Media Centers? 

I like what you wrote about curating being a value, Samuel. It's true that we all have lots of access to media -- books, Kindles, and so on. It's good your pastor encourages people and gives away books, but I wonder if somehow we could more organizedly and effectively share good books/content with each other? 

PS - Our church library was cleared out and disbanded years ago. It was full of old, dusty books and I suspect it became a catch-all for books no one wanted. No one really "owned" it, either, so it was just as well it went away. A while back we redid the narthex/entryway to our sanctuary and put in a nice tall shelf. Our previous pastor picked out several good books and placed them in clear plastic holders on that shelf, and people were invited to take a book if it interested them. He gave away books, too, when people met with him or expressed interest in something. He's a big reader. After that pastor left, I put "blurbs" on all the book holders with a little summary about the book, to make it more inviting (I hope) for people to consider them and take one if they were interested. I also tried to make the choices a little less theologically ponderous, but still good (like Lewis Smedes rather than a tome by N.T. Wright -- both great, but ...). And I added a couple children's books. The Jesus Storybook was quite popular.

I myself, besides reading, also listen to some great podcasts that add to my spiritual life, and I read a lot of articles, too, that do the same. I sometimes share links to articles on our church Facebook page, but I know Facebook is not a hang-out anymore for younger people. And Instagram doesn't allow links. Well, in the bio they do, I guess. Snapchat I haven't really explored, and I don't know if any of those are so effective. There's YouTube I guess. Share book reviews on YouTube? It's a thought.

A friend and I just took over our  church library and are doing our best to increase interest in our books. All of the comments so far have been from churches who have disbanded  their libraries. We are not ready to do that.  

we held a book sale and sold off all our duplicates and books that were not being taken kut anymore.  From thie money we generated from this sale, we purchased some new books from another church that had a Christian boom store.  Our church also held a collection for the library and with that money, and some money that was in our bank account we were able to purchase quite a number of new books.  

We are looking for any other ideas to get ore people to use our library.  We have a great location, just off the fellowship hall on the main level.

some things we have discovered is that 

1.  People won't take out non/fiction Delphi help/God help books" 

3.  People want fiction.

3.  People say "no more Amish books but that is mainly what.is being taken out.

4.  We are thinking of holding reading contests and giving prizes (for the children) 

5.  We are planning on "featuring" new books with a little review.

 6 . Doe anyone out there have any other ideas to generate some new life into our libraries?

We have a church library at First CRC in Brandon, Manitoba and it is used on a regular basis. There is always books being borrowed from the library.

I have a cousin who has been running a church library for years. Her church is in Wisconsin. Here is what she said when I asked her about it.

We have a church library! We have around 5000 items, including Christian fiction, non-fiction, and DVDs. We have a self-serve checkout system and the library gets used throughout the week. We check out hundreds of items each month. We are very fortunate to have a church board that sees the value in this resource and gives us a budget for new books. We also work with other ministries to provide resources related to their studies. For example, if the pastor is mentioning a book in his sermon, we will make sure to have a copy of that book to check out. Or one of our library volunteers will go to women's Bible study or youth group events to present the newest releases for those readers. We have a nook in the children's area with books at kids' height and pillows and tables and chairs to sit at and read. We have a very active "new books" cart and use social media and a newsletter to promote the new releases. We do not have e-books since there is a considerable expense connected with that. As long as our patronage remains strong, we will continue to provide this service. 

Although with our recent remodeling project the size of our church library was reduced by half, our church library is still a vibrant enterprise at Orland Park CRC.  Volunteers staff the library for both morning services.  Since we just reopened in January after having been closed for 8 months due to remodeling, our circulation is still a little slow, but each month it has been increasing as people familiarize themselves with the location of their favorite items. We have a collection of at least 5,000 items including picture books, Easy Readers, Junior Fiction, Adult Fiction, Adult Non-fiction, and DVDs. 

We are blessed with a space easily accessible to the main areas where people congregate on Sunday mornings so displays are easily visible and draw people in to find something to read.  Children love to come in to find a picture book after Sunday School. Though we no longer have space for reading inside the library, there are chairs and reading areas just outside the library doors! Children always love to have someone read to them. 

For all the predictions of the paperless society and the demise of libraries, many young people are returning to print media because it is a novelty for them in the same way we have seen a resurgence of vinyl records. Obviously, novelties may be short-lived, but there is increasing evidence that young people often prefer print media. 

As someone else mentioned, I try to coordinate displays with various ministries in church as well as with the pastors' sermons.  We also tailor our collection to the reading habits of our congregation.  Our library policy allows us to use donations (or not) as we determine the appropriateness for our collection.  The library is not  the repository of anything nobody knows what to do with! Donations are always appreciated, as it allows us to expand our collection without using money from the budget, but sometimes the items donated are just not useful or we might already have the item.

So many of the adults who use our church library have mentioned they so appreciate knowing the items they pick out will be something they will be comfortable reading.  While many public libraries do have Christian Fiction or Inspirational Fiction collections, those collections may be limited.  The items found in the church library will not have offensive language, racy sex scenes, or gratuitous violence. Church libraries make the book selection easier. 

These are some of my thoughts!  Strong congregational support as well as council support make keeping the library viable much easier.  A good group of volunteers to staff the library is also very useful.  It makes the job of keeping things organized all the more fun!

Peggy 

Recently the library in our church was relocated. In the process of relocating the librarians cleaned house. They removed all of the books that apparently had rarely been checked out. These books were given away to anyone in the church that wanted them. Among the giveaways were reference works, such as various Bible commentaries, Calvin Institutes, Barns Notes, and many Christian biographies. There were some newer scholarly works as well. All of these are gone, and now all that is left are the Christian novels. I call these fluff. There are few books left that truly challenge the reader to grapple with Biblical truth. Nothing concerning justice, race relations, or other social issues. I am afraid the content of our new library reflects sadly that what the Christians at my church want, at least the ones that frequent the library, is to be entertained, and they are not interested in engaging in deeper thinking. If this is what we are going call a church library, then I would say we need neither the library or the librarian! 

I agree with some of the comments here that sometimes church libraries turn into an area full of books no one else knew what to do with. Ours even has a "Dutch" section, with books that most of us can't read because we don't know Dutch. Last year our church sent out a congregational survey asking members how they felt about certain areas of church and there was a section about the library. Turns out around one fifth of survey takers didn't even know we had one!

We are in the midst of a building project and that area will be redone. Maybe we could use some of the input seen here going forward. Thank you for bringing this up in the Network.

Our church library has devolved into a heavily used fiction storehouse. It make me sad. Shelves full of "Christian" fiction. 

We have a church library committee that has just been reborn in recent years! They have been diligently meeting to categorize the books we have, thin them out, and make the tough calls about what books we should have and what type of books are not quite fitting for a church library. Books are put on display and rotated, a church budget item allows us to buy new ones, and newsletter reviews are regularly included. As a new Christian I remember the church library being indispensable! It was a place I could go and trust that I was getting good information about the faith and the Bible. I also used it as a place to prepare for Bible studies and teaching Sunday School.  In my experience biblical commentaries other than Matthew Henry's would be helpful in the church library. It's a good place for small group videos and study guides for those groups looking for study ideas. I say we keep the church library but let's keep it up to date and organized. There are people in the world who do care about these things and would love to serve. And as a pastor it is great to see members do the difficult work of discerning what is best when it comes to content and thinking hard about how those decisions are made. 

We have a church library and we have recently culled it to get rid of books that we thought had little value for our congregation. Many of these were donated from previous members. There was little discernment as to whether or not they were important to place in our library.  A big problem today is that many people do not read anything except a short newsfeed on their phone.  We are reassessing the purpose for a church library. We do have great reference material and commentaries, but many in out church would rather purchase a book than hunt it at a library. We have tried a book cart at coffee hour to promote circulation, but that was not effective.  We are open to forming a better purpose for what requires time to keep organized and promoted. I am interested in suggestions.  (Denver CO)

Who'd have thunk that a post on libraries would generate so much activity?! Love it.

I am in one book club, started and ended another a few years back, and often think of starting another. These ideas and thoughts are inspiring! Maybe somehow I can link the book club idea with a library revitalization...

We recently did a construction project in our church and our head librarian successfully "lobbied" our council to move our library out of the basement into a large hallway upstairs with easier access. It was made more inviting in the process. I wish I could attach a picture to let you see it. A gifted carpenter of our church made book shelves to match existing woodwork. A padded window seat (with storage cubes underneath) was added under the original stained glass window.  A matching antique dresser became the storage for librarian supplies.  The collection was reduced due to space constrictions, but still contains a variety of options for a variety of interests. It is no longer behind a locked door and self-serve check out is allowed during the week. It has been a worthwhile change and we've found that even with all the other options available for reading there are a number of people who still like to hold an actual book in their hands.

When I became church librarian, we had an excellent collection of inspirational fiction and shelves crammed with old unread books, many donated, Hardly any books circulated.  I first weeded mercilessly, then got the budget increased to buy new books that people would read.  I promote the library with new book displays, newsletters in members' mailboxes,  and a changing bulletin board.  I have a book cart that I wheel into the narthex each Sunday featuring new books, books that go with the sermon or Sunday School topics, and seasonal books.  Right now it has books from Christianity Today's best book list of last year, and Easter and Palm Sunday books for kids, as well as A Wrinkle in Time for folks who plan to see the movie.  I still buy a few inspirational fiction works, but have gotten many other members to read what's current. I appreciate book reviews in the Banner and Christianity Today, and take requests from readers. Too often libraries are staffed by dear souls who just like to read novels, and not by those trained as librarians.  Our library gets quite a bit of use, with self check out using book cards so it doesn't need to be staffed constantly, and I have a couple volunteers who help me check in books.  It also helps that our pastor reads and recommends books from our library.   (Bellevue CRC, WA)

I go to a Baptist church of about 500-600 people.  We have a library that contains upwards of 10,000 books and it is a busy place every single Sunday.  It is also open on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights, and while traffic is much less then, it still gets used some.  Any given week, around 150 people have something out from the library.  I think our church is unusual in this (based purely on my own observations in churches i visit) and I don't really know for sure why it's this way, but there are a lot of people in our church who think the library is one of our great strengths.

Our active users range in age from pre-schoolers who can only just write their names on the cards,  to a home-bound man in his 90's for whom we put together a stack of books every couple of weeks.  There are lots of people who come in every single week to get new books.

We have worked hard to make the library a pleasant and attractive space.  It is not very big, so we've tried to make everything as accessible as possible.  We have a number of different display areas where we place featured items - for example, books which are featured in our monthly newsletter, or seasonal books...and we even have an endcap display on which we place "bottom shelf books" - because they are hard for our older patrons to reach!

We try to make it as easy as possible to find what someone is looking for by using helpful spine labels - historical fiction, mystery, etc, but also series labels which I type and affix to the tops of the spines.

We conduct summer reading programs for all ages and also Adult Reading Challenges during the winter months.

We have done reading aloud programs for the pre-schoolers and although we don't have a formal program now, we are still available to do it if a teacher asks.

We put out a monthly newsletter with interesting articles and information about upcoming programs, book reviews, lists of new items in the library (and we keep a mailing list for this newsletter, if you're interested in seeing it!)

So...in our church, the answer is a resounding YES! There is still a place for a library in our church, and for some people, it's one of  the reasons they chose to come there.

I'm wondering how many church libraries are actually headed by a trained librarian, rather than by people who just like to read.

Two years ago we pulled some stats out of our library usage records and found that nearly 2/3 of the books in our "library" had never been checked out. Of the remaining 1/3 we checked authors in our collection against their availability in the public library and found that most were freely and readily accessible 6 days a week at a neighbourhood, local library. It seemed less than a good use of space to hold these volumes in our church for congregants to access for an hour after worship on Sunday.

So, we offered them to our congregation and whatever they didn't take we packed into boxes and gave to a local charitable book store. They are gone and that space is being repurposed and, for us, that is a good thing!

Found this discussion with a simple Google search yesterday. Our PA church library is losing half its footprint to renovation/reallocation of space this summer. I felt compelled to write a a top ten list of reasons I love the library. Hey, Samuel Sutter at Goshen CRC. You know the COD library. I hope you and your family are well. :)

~Amanda Sigel

1.Symbol- There’s a wide streak of anti-intellectualism running through evangelicalism. That history is traced in Worthen’s Apostles of Reason. The library is a vivid symbol that COD embraces faith without disregarding facts.

2.Information- “Being a Christian doesn’t mean checking your brain at the door. God can handle any question you have.”.- comforting words around the time I’d graduated college and faith became real to me. I’ve searched for and found many answers in COD library books.

3.Parenting- “If you know the Bible, you’ll know how to parent,” a pastor told me once. We’d recently had a baby, and I didn’t know the Bible yet. Parenting books from a biblical perspective. Bingo.

4.Missions- What are these people doing leaving America to tell people what?? Modern missionaries were evidence to me that some are willing to sacrifice a lot, answer the call, share the gospel. I read many missionary biographies and our girls read mission stories through festival contests as they were growing up.

5.Marriage- Listen to who, my husband? A wonderful woman of faith told me the Bible said I was supposed to submit to my husband. What?? I read a few books on Christian marriage.

6.Curated collection- The amount of time and energy the library committee expends selecting, maintaining, displaying, culling, and reviewing materials is remarkable. These ministry minded folks haven’t left the library become a trivial lending spot for Christian romances and kids’ videos, though many people appreciate both those things. The public library has a lot of Christian fiction but not much non-fiction when I’ve searched.

7.Variety- I was told once that because a resource isn’t meaningful to me doesn’t mean it won’t help someone else. A seeker or new believer can find resources tailored to their particular learning style, need, or objection.

8.Deeper dig- believers can move beyond milk to solid food in the library. Exhaustive reference works are available that would be cost-prohibitive for almost any individual.

9.Hard issues- What will pop up if I search homosexuality or gender identity when the electronic card catalog comes back out after the renovation? I don’t know, but I’d be surprised if some of our tweens and teens aren’t (privately) looking for answers. I hope everyone will consider loving Christian perspectives. Drug use, alcoholism, sexual sin and abuse. If a person close to me has a problem, I want to read up… or pull out a devotional book to help me stay focused on God.

10.Prayer- Who claims to be good at it? I read books of/on prayer like diet books. I may never get good at it, but it’s a lifelong aim, and I need a regular kick in the pants.

This is actually something I'm passionate about and would like to see more conversation about.

I believe resource ministry is essential to building a thriving, thinking congregation and Christian culture as a whole.  A church library can be a vital part of that if it is stewarded well and used as an effective resource ministry.  The reason is that even though resources are widely available today (you can access a lot online, if you know where to look, which not everyone does), there is something to be said for having a browsable, physical set of books available to you, especially as a matter of accessibility of resources, since not everyone can afford to buy books they would like to read or find interesting.

The trick is making sure that a library is structured in such a way that it can be used effectively.  Having a well-curated collection put together by knowledgeable volunteers, with prayer, and with intentional integration with other ministries is part of this; another is integrating physical resources with knowledge and promotion of digital resources, such as online books and commentaries (hello Project Gutenberg), lecture series and podcasts, audiobooks, and publications (think Christianity Today).

But making sure a library is connecting with people is important, too, which is why physical location and community engagement are key to a successful resource ministry.  The library has to be in an accessible location in the church, where people spend time (in a central location or foyer, as opposed to tucked into a back corner of the church where nobody knows where it is).  It has to be actively promoting quality resources, such as putting together display tables with quality titles or having a regular page in church communications to discuss and promote good books.  Also, and probably most importantly, it has to be routinely engaging and building trusted relationships with the congregation.  That means not just having a library, but having a library that hosts events or classes, like monthly book groups or regular nights to discuss ideas that are important to Christian culture, such as Christianity and the arts, or theology of creation as played out in vocation, or how to engage with poverty alleviation in a wise and biblically rooted way.  Willingness to host the thought life of a church centers a resource ministry as trustworthy, effective, and an integral part of leading a church toward deeper thought, deeper life, and deeper Christianity.

Aesthetics matter, too.  Building a library into a beautiful space that people want to spend time in, possibly including art prints from the vast history of Biblically-themed paintings that Western history has produced, and a comfortable space, with chairs, a pot of coffee, or other hospitalities that invite people to come in and spend time there, help to create an inviting space for people to want to sit in and spend time with others in.  If possible, and especially if the library is open throughout the week outside of Sunday hours, provide a free WiFi connection.  Provide cards with questions for conversation topics.  Anything that invites and stimulates thought, imagination, conversation, community, and of course, connection to quality discipleship resources will create space for ministry and for God to provide for the people who need resources.

Sometimes even the simplest things can be effective.  When I was a kid, my church library was in a central location in the children's ministry area, and every Sunday the librarians would have seasonal candy for the kids.  I didn't realize I was being manipulated at the time, but the candy was an effective way to get us in the library, and my family ended up using that library a lot, for everything from Veggietales videos to The Chronicles of Narnia books, most of which I read for the first time from that library.

As a young adult with limited finances and no budget for buying books, I ended up procuring some of my most life-changing reading from the church libraries I had access to at the time, including Elizabeth Elliot's "Shadow of the Almighty" and Amy Carmichael's "Gold Cord: The Story of a Fellowship".  Because of this and other experiences, I am convinced of the value of resource ministry, and God's ability to work through it effectively for the enrichment of a congregation and community.  Incidentally, while church-based libraries and resource ministries are certainly the way to start, I would love to see community- and university-focused Christian library and resource initiatives as well.  They have been proven effective in initiatives such as L'abri Fellowship and Chesterton House (Google them if you've never heard of them -- they're good stuff!), and I would like to see the model multiplied to cultivate a more thoughtful, in-depth Christian culture.

We have a very active church library.  Our church has about 500-550 people; the library holds around 11,000 items (books, audio and dvd) and we typically have several hundred active patrons at any one time, from kids barely old enough to write their own name on the cards (yes, we're still using cards) to the oldest people in the church (one of whom is home-bound but we take him books every week).   The library  is near one of the main entrances, which is just down from the sanctuary, so although we'd love to have a bigger space, even if one were available we probably wouldn't take it; our location is just too good to give up for more room.

This library was established about 40 years ago, and when my friend and I took it over in 2013 it already had a lot going for it and lots of people used it.  In those almost-8 years, we have improved it in a number of ways and increased usage.  I don't really know to what to attribute it, but I think it's at least in part that it seems we just have readers in our church.  However, we also work hard to have relevant books, a nice children's corner, spine labels which make it easy for patrons to find certain genres or all the books in a series, and the like.  We also have a reading program every summer for kids (and sometimes it includes teens and adults) and also an adult reading challenge of some sort at some other time of year.  We put out a monthly newsletter with a feature article and lots of information about new books, authors, reading progams, book reviews etc. (you can be on the mailing list for this if you are interested). For a while we read aloud in the younger kids' church time, but it has been several years since we did that.  

I think a library can be a tremendous tool for spiritual growth in a church, and we consider ourselves fortunate that our pastors are very supportive of our efforts.  Our CE pastor has asked us to create an area for Adult CE resources, and he constantly points the teachers of adult SS classes in our direction.  Our lead pastor will occasionally refer to a book in his message, and usually either asks if it's in the library or has looked it up ahead of time in our on-line catalog.  We do not take this support for granted, as we have heard of so many pastors who are not on board with the library.

I belong to a Baptist church in Michigan and we have a thriving library that sees constant and consistent use.  Our congregation numbers around 400-450; our library contains 11,000 books (including a small collection of audio books, CDs for children, and DVDs for children and families).  At any given time more than 140 people have something out on loan. I know that many church libraries close because of lack of use, and I don't really know what it is that keeps ours so popular.  However, many of our people tell us it's the best one they've ever seen, and though I help run it and so probably shouldn't say so, I believe they are correct!  My co-librarian and I work hard to keep it relevant, attractive, easy to navigate, and fun.  We conduct reading challenges for adults, and summer reading programs for kids (and sometimes adults as well).  We put out a monthly newsletter.  While it's true many resources are now available on-line, and there are a number of good public libraries in our area, there still seems to be a deep need for what we offer!