Pens outmuscle swords, and books can help people in ways sermons cannot. Here are six secrets of developing a library that ministers.
Good books are like close friends-they wait patiently to speak until you’re ready to listen. No hasty words escape their covers until you open the pages.
They’re willing to repeat themselves as often as necessary. If you want them, they’re never asleep. If you misunderstand, they don’t scold. If you’re ignorant, they don’t laugh. They’re steady and reliable-they won’t change from one day to the next.
Ever wonder at the fact that the apostle Paul, with one of the world’s most fertile and inspired minds, asked his friend Timothy to bring him his cloak and “the books, especially the parchments”? Apparently not even Paul could merely meditate, think lovely thoughts, and write inspired prose. In a damp jail cell, he needed a cloak for his body and books for his mind.
Like friends, books can bring comfort, shape habits, and mold character. They have the power to inflame, inform, and inspire.
But for that to happen, the books must first be opened.
And there’s the problem for church libraries. Too often the church library is only a dusty depot of books discarded from someone’s attic. Or perhaps the library showcases the latest titles, but no one uses them, and thus the books serve only as expensive wallpaper. Lost is the potential ministry that happens when people learn from godly writers who’ve published their collected wisdom and experience.
To address this problem, LEADERSHIP surveyed nearly 200 church librarians to discover effective ways to make the library a ministry, not a misery. The responses were full of innovative ideas, but even more significant was the librarians’ perseverance.
Church librarians tend to stay at their posts. Of those surveyed, 48 percent had been on the job more than five years, and 83 percent had been there more than two years. This is all the more remarkable since 53 percent had received no training for their position, and 95 percent receive no pay for their services.
Librarians reported that though the job isn’t lucrative, it does have its rewards. Satisfaction comes from “bibliotherapy”-applying the right book at the right time to help people and mend relationships.
“I enjoy guiding and encouraging youngsters in their Christian reading,” said Jean Hillman, a church librarian in the Los Angeles area. “One young boy took out the little book No Longer a Nobody at least seven times. I could look into his personality by noticing the books he read and reread. Conversations with children can be very rewarding!”
Another librarian wrote, “There have been so many rewards-hearing about lives being changed and marriages being repaired thanks to books from our library, an ‘A’ on a much researched term paper for a high schooler, a three-year-old proudly getting his own library card, a Sunday school teacher leaving the library feeling good that her next six weeks are all planned with extra filmstrips, pictures, and a puppet play, and a young mother with an armload of books and tapes saying, ‘I’m so thankful for this library. We could never afford to buy all this for our family.’ “
What are the secrets of an effective library? Those surveyed suggested six ways to develop a library that ministers.
Start with the kids.
The librarians observed that usually the same people frequent the library. It’s hard to get new readers. Their suggestion: Get children in the habit of reading.
“Schooling a television-oriented public in reading is a full-time job,” said Virginia Acheffter, a librarian at Calvary Independent Church in western Pennsylvania. “Starting with children proves the best place. High schoolers either don’t want to read or have too much going on in their lives to be bothered.”
How can children be infected with a love for reading?
“I take individual groups of children up to the library to show them where the books for their age are located,” said Pearl Kiehlbauch of Racine Bible Church in Wisconsin. “I start with the threeyear-olds and go on up through junior high. It’s exciting to see the kids get enthused. They each get to check out a book, and this lets the parents know we have books for children also. I’ve noticed a nice increase in children’s books being checked out.”
Another librarian conducts a story time for kindergartners through third graders. “It has inspired the children to read on their own,” she said. “I’m delighted when they walk in and ask for a book I’ve just read to them.”
In Alberta, Sylvia Van Haitsma boosts circulation among small children with “The Book Box”-a sturdy cardboard box filled with picture books and easy-to-read titles.
“I leave it in the Sunday school classroom of one of the younger age groups-kindergarten or primary- for about a month at a time,” she said. “Teachers are most helpful and assure that children sign out their selections. After a month the box moves on. By the time the box gets back to the class in two or three months, it’s new and interesting again.”
Offer tapes as well as books.
“The most successful thing we’ve done in our library is starting a tape ministry,” said Jo Ann Rettig of Chicago’s Armitage Baptist Church. “Tapes are checked out three to one over books.”
Cassettes are made of church services, and tapes by nationally known speakers such as James Dobson are purchased for the library.
Topeka Bible Church in Kansas also started a cassette library-mostly of sermon tapes by the three pastors and guest speakers.
“There are a lot more listeners in our congregation than there are readers, if the popularity of these tapes is any indication,” said librarian Brenda Hall.
Cassettes are a way to minister to those who don’t have the time or the inkling to sit down with a book.
Acquire quality books.
In addition to keeping track of books already on hand, most librarians are responsible for acquiring new titles. Surveys showed that by far the most common sources of discovering new books were reviews in Christian magazines, congregational requests, and Library World, the newsletter of the Evangelical Church Library Association.
Having a part of the church budget designated for new books is, of course, preferred by librarians. When money isn’t available, however, librarians are forced to rely on others’ donations or their own creativity to build the collection.
Donations, unfortunately, aren’t always cause for rejoicing, as we are reminded by the poem by Carolyn Wells:
The books we think we ought to read are poky, dull and dry;
The books that we would like to read we are ashamed to buy;
The books that people talk about we never can recall;
And the books that people give us, oh, they’re the worst of all.
Most librarians can appreciate the humor, but they confess that telling donors their books aren’t acceptable is tough.
“When well-meaning people give us outdated books, we tell them we have a simple rule of acceptance or rejection by the library committee,” said one California librarian. “This process removes the responsibility from any single individual. If a book is rejected, the donor has the choice of reclaiming it or having it given to Goodwill. They almost always prefer the latter.”
Among the creative ways to acquire books are . posting a “wanted” list of titles that people may donate as they come across them; holding a Library Night on a Sunday evening to focus on books and taking a collection for new titles; or offering a Book Fair.
“For three years, we’ve had an annual supper to benefit the church library,” said Patricia Shoemaker r of Community Alliance Church in Dixon, Illinois.: “The youth group made spaghetti and salad. We, ordered some short, free films through the public library and interspersed them with musical numbers by the youth. Our local Christian bookstore agreed f to set up a table of books I selected, and each person was expected to purchase a book and donate it to the; church as payment for supper. We put donor nameplates in the front of each book, and purchasers could be the first to check it out and read it, if they wished.”
Let people see what you have.
Before a book can be checked out, obviously, the reader must know it’s available. Promotion, publicity, and visibility are all areas that test librarians’ creativity. But those surveyed offered some unique ways to get books and people together.
In Ontario, Grace Anderson places a book on each section of the pews before Sunday morning worship. A note is attached that says, “Mark this book out in the library. It is for you.” The library is always open with a self-service checkout system.
“Often we have five or six people check out the book that was on their pew,” she said. “Many times members have said, ‘This book has met my need- thanks for placing it there.’ We do meet to pray that this would be God’s leading.”
Does the self-service checkout system cause books to disappear?
“We don’t worry if we lose a book or two,” she said. “Our goal is to get books off the shelves and into people’s hands.”
In Pennsylvania, Robert Kern also decided that if people wouldn’t come to the library, he’d take the library to the people.
“We placed satellite libraries throughout the church-racks containing ten to twenty books,” he said. “We’d put young adult books next to the senior high room, storybooks in the primary and junior departments, and so on. We’ve increased circulation dramatically.”
Other churches place a two-sentence review of a new book in each week’s bulletin, while others distribute an insert describing new titles once a month.
“Probably the best promotion for a church library is a satisfied user,” said Phyllis Ranson of Saskatchewan. “And I try to help even in casual conversations around the church by talking about ideas and new books instead of the weather.”
Organize books so they’re easily found.
The great Dewey Decimal debate rages on. Some librarians insist that “books should be catalogued by the Dewey Decimal System from day one.” Others said, “It’s hard to fit every book you’d have in the church library under the 200 section (religion) of Dewey.”
“The Dewey system was too difficult to understand,” confessed Elaine Stoner of Winona Lake, Indiana, “so we made our own codes:
Biography-B
Bible Study-BS
Christian Education-CE
Christian Living-CL
Devotional-D
Evangelism-E
Fiction-F
Marriage and Family-MF
Reference-REF and so on. Our children’s books are set off with CH (a biography written for children would be CH-B),” she said. “We’ve had good comments on how easy it is to find books. But you have to make sure all the author and title cards are coded in the beginning. It’s very difficult to go back and do it later.”
One church reported that it hired high school students during the summers to code and catalogue library books.
The librarians agreed that no matter what system a church uses Dewey, Library of Congress, or some individualized variation-the important thing is that books can be found when wanted.
Know where to find help.
Resources are available for beleaguered librarians. Many surveys suggested visiting the libraries of churches nearby, or joining one of the church library associations. The two most frequently mentioned were:
Evangelical Church Library Association
P.O. Box 353
Glen Ellyn, IL 60137
Church and Synagogue Library Association
P.O. Box 1130
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
Several books were also recommended by those surveyed. Among the most helpful for struggling libraries:
Church Library Handbook, by LaVose Newton (Multnomah).
The Library and Resource Center in Christian Education, by Betty McMichael (Moody).
Successful Church Libraries, by Elmer Towns and Cyril Barber (Baker).
121 Ways toward a More Successful Church Library, by Arthur Saul (Victor).
Nobody knows for sure how many church libraries exist across the nation, but conservative estimates put the figure at 50,000.
If each church library can begin to get a few more people between the covers of good books, if each library could demonstrate what happens when pages are opened-and then multiply that ministry by 50,000-the effect would be staggering.
As Daniel Webster once wrote, “If religious books are not widely circulated among the masses in this country, I do not know what is to become of us as a nation. If truth be not diffused, error will be.”
Some of the wisest men and women of the faith are available to teach and to be consulted. They have much to say, but they’ll remain silent until their books are opened and they’re asked to speak.
Copyright © 1983 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
