Q&A

Purging Books Today

How do librarians purge books? I know this has been discussed before, but as newer books are becoming increasingly "edgy," should we be keeping some of the older "tried & true" and if so, what criteria could we use to make our decisions? 

Denise Robe

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Libraries that Serve Seminary Cohorts that Meet in the Building

My church is the location of Southeastern Baptist Seminary student cohorts. For the first time, the leader of these cohorts asked the Enrichment Center Team to include the textbooks for a course that starts August 18. He asked us to add 16 books for

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E-Book Articles and Discussions for Today

In February 2025, Glenn McKowen updated his three eBook articles for us. You will find links here to these 3 articles for us to continue these discussions.

E-books: the Ministry

E-books: the Process

E-books: the Cost

 Jump in with your questions and

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Beginning a Book Collection?

Gloria Stevens has a question:

Our pastor is interested in setting up a book stall. Does anyone have an idea about beginning a book collection? Our library books are mostly really old.  

Gloria

 

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Are Paperback Books Going Away?

Yesterday, I heard that publishers are transitioning to hardback books without paperbooks. Have you heard anything about that? I am noticing that hardbacks right now are sometimes almost the same price as the paperbacks. And I also notice new books a

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Graphic Novels for Junior Readers?

Roxy Klassen requests:

We are trying to build a Graphic Novel section for Junior Readers. Does anyone have any good suggestions for Christian Graphic Novels besides these? 
ICorrie Ten Boom 
The Hiding Place: (A Graphic Novel) Ages 8-12, Full Color, Il

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The future of DVDs and Audiobooks

Babs Harris has the following question:

Due to the slow down after Covid and a loss of workers, our library now has a backlog of ordered and paid for DVDs (mostly preschool) to catalog. 
Do we spend the time to enter these into the catalog when so few

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Dependable Sources to Help us Select Books and DVDs for Our Churches

Even though we have had this discussion in previous years, let's start a new list of dependable sources to help with selection. Chances are what we listed a few years ago may no longer be available. AND new sources are worth our consideration. 

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Purchasing Books and DVDs?

Share with us your favorite sources for library books and DVDs. Even if you see your sources mentioned by others before you do, go ahead and add to our list in this discussion.

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Revitalizing a Church Library

From Judy Bawks

Hello all! I am a 70-year-old life-long member of a Presbyterian Church in the U.P. of Michigan. Here's some background of our church: Our church membership has dwindled over the years, and we now have a membership of under 200, and a

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Inventory—What’s First?

We need to do an inventory but know that there are a LOT of books which have been checked out for extended periods of time (possibly as long ago as Covid 2020).  We do stamp our books with a 2 week return date, but do not stress this. 

We are ponderin

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Pre-teen Books

Our pre-teen selection (4th-5th grade at our church) needs some attention!  We are ready to order some current Christian books that would be highly appealing to this age group! 

I've been searching publishers  but finding that there doesn't seem to be

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Books by Authors of Color for Church Libraries

Marie Terwilliger has a request:

Recommended books by authors of color for church libraries. We are in serious need of expanding that grouping!

Thanks, Marie Terwilliger

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Out of Date Concordances and other Theological Resources?

How do you determine if a concordance and other theological resources are out of date in your collection?

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Circulation Reports without Software

Another topic discussed on October 19 in Franklin, TN was requested by some in our group who do not have automated collections. How to keep track of circulation? If you do not have an automated collection, how do you track circulation?

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Books on Hospice and End of Life Needs

One of our topics during last Saturday's (October 19, 2024)  Middle Tennessee Church Library Ministry Network gathering was sharing titles on hospice and end of life needs. Have you discovered books to have for families dealing with hospice care? Ple

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Collection Development: Book Recommendations in Magazines

What magazines are available to your church family? 

How do you use magazines to find books and DVDs for the library? 

 

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Ebooks

We have not grappled with eBooks in awhile. The pastor of one of our new members wants eBooks in the collection. Those of you who have experience with having eBooks in your church’s collection: would you share your recommendations as well as experien

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Books for Middle School Readers

Georgina Businaro recently put together a partical list of books her church's library provides for middle schoolers. Every church library is unique so keep in mind that each of us must use our selection policy to determine what we add to the collecti

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Women Authors who Write Historical Fiction

During the July 20, 2024 gathering of the Middle Tennessee Church Library Ministry Network, we agreed we would like to collaborate on developing a list of women authors who write historical fiction. Since everyone is busy, how about just writing a na

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