Topic posted by Mary Reynolds on January 18, 2023:
Our church library has been in a terrible state for the last 6-7 years. We have about 2000 books and we don't even have a budget until January. We have one bulletin board just outside the room & I would love ideas for it. Many people in our church don't even know the library exists.
Becky Johnson replied:
Mary, ask school teachers in your congregation if they can donate items for your bulletin board. We change our board each month to keep it fresh. We also ask our patrons what do they think about the subject we are highlighting, this draws attention to our hard work and spreads the word.
We are included in the church bulletins, the monthly newsletter and on the various boards throughout the building. I also hold an open house in the library in January to start the year off right. If you serve refreshments they will come!
Replies
Pintrest has some great ideas. And you can search the internet for library bullitin board ideas.
Where is your library located, in terms of the sanctuary? If it's in a remote area, that makes it so much harder. Our library is quite close to the sanctuary and right by one of the doors into/out of the main foyer.
Do you have a nice big sign? Are there signs in other parts of the church, pointing in the direction of the library? Would you be allowed to have a display of some sort in the hallway?
What about announcements in the bulletin or overhead? This can be to announce an event, or just general "come check out the library" or "some books to consider" kinds of things.
Does your church office send out church emails to the congregation? if so, you could write one for the library and ask for it to be sent to everyone.
Post flyers around the building
If your library is remote from the sanctuary, get permission to set up a small display near the sanctuary, with some great books in various genres for various ages, that can be checked out right there, and include directions to the library.
Create a small brochure that tells about your library, and get it included in your bulletin, if your church still does one, or recruit some people to help hand them out to every person as they leave or enter the sanctuary one Sunday.
I love the idea of hosting an open house! I may use that idea in coming months as well. We have a large patronage of homeschoolers, so perhaps in August? I also use things like our summer reading program and story time for preschoolers to spread the word. When people learn about these specific events, it also by default informs them we have a library. It also signals that the library is "alive" and active, and is invested in the church.
I am planning on requesting a buletin board at our church we have a breezeway at our church there is the fellowship hall sanctuary nursery choir room building and the office building which has the office and the library and food pantry and what we call the church council room where we have 3 bible studies and adult sunday school. it is right across the hall from our library which is great. all buletin boards are in the other wing which is why i want one. we have 3 with just religous posters since they aren't designated for anything one so i could likely have one hopefully near the bathrooms off of fellowship hall. I have a couple months worth of ideas i taught pre k for a few years. we are about to have our library reopening after 40 years of neglect. pastor and i planned on a time 2 weeks away so we have 2 church service announcements and a notification in the weekly email newsletter. we are not having sunday school that day instead we are having after church snacks in the council room and encouraging people to wander across the hall and check out the library. I will also do a presentation discussion maybe about just what i did and what is going on over there then it will be open for use.
go right ahead glad you like the idea of an open house
You will find hundreds of pictures of bulletin boards on the CLN Photos tab.