I am about to start using the new Equipping Church Library Ministries training program. Are the Interview/Visit sections intended to be physical visits to public and/or church libraries to interview librarians, Q & A's on this network, chats with network members, or some combination of these depending on the particular requirement?
How has any church doing this training handled the interview/visit? I have been the only library staff at my church for five years and have just recruited another volunteer to assist me. Our number of items and library patrons is small and we use an honor system or self-checkout system.
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Congratulations to you on beginning the ECLM training! If you and your new volunteer can work together on some of the process, it will be beneficial to you both. And, it's much more fun to do that sort of thing together, isn't it!?
A combination of personal visits, chats with members on this website, phone conversations, etc. will be good. Of course, the physical visits to other libraries gives you an opportunity to see how the library is arranged, what works (and what you think might not work in your church situation) and to personally make some new library friends. Talking with people on this network will give you a lot of different ideas, which you will need to be careful to weigh against your church policy and the guidelines which you will be developing as a church library.
Keep a record of your visits and your progress on the ECLM training and share with us here. Even though many of us have been "in training" for years in Church Library Ministry, you are going to be one of the first to jump into the new process. We will be looking forward to hearing about the progress of anyone who is on this journey!
Thanks Sandra for your comments and encouragement. I find I have two volunteers now -- a great blessing! I was planning to work together on the ECLM training with a team meeting format and meeting every other week before the Sunday night service.
I'll be glad to share our progress. My first volunteer and I just attended the Illinois Library Conference last Saturday, so we are enthusiastic and eager to try some new things. Right now we are in the process of moving our library to another room downstairs, so it will be a few weeks before we start the ECLM training.
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