From Stephanie Richardson
I am just getting started with revitalizing my church's library. It is a beautiful space, but for years has been a dumping ground for books that people want to get rid of - resulting in a collection of books that no one wants to read. My first step will be a huge purge of the collection and start obtaining books that are relevant to our congregation.
I am looking for help with several specific things. I realize that many of these questions are very broad and I appreciate any wisdom and insight you can share with me.
1) Does anyone have a mission or vision statement their church library that they could share? How about written guidelines for purging old or obtaining new books? I plan to work closely with the pastors for advice as I build our collection, but I would like to have a process in place that doesn't require them to approve every book (they don't have time for that!). I fortunately have a couple thousand dollars to start with, so I am very excited to start building a great collection.
2) For those of you that use an online catelogue system, what do you love/hate about the system you use. I have looked at TinyCat, but I am a little confused about how to shelve my books in a way that makes them easy to find physically while using the TinyCat system. (I haven't spent a lot of time studying it, so maybe I've just missed it). Other than TinyCat, what else is out there?
3) What activities and/or programs has gotten your church interested in the library? I am hoping to start some programs that engage kids and encourage adults to put down their phone and pick up a book. :)
4) Other than this website, are there any other great resources/communities that I should connect with as I am working on this ministry?
Thank you all!
Grace and Peace,ichardson
Replies
Stephanie,
Great question! We recently closed our library space in anticipation of more space in a new building. We purged most of those "dumped" books (free give away followed by donation). I will follow this thread to learn your "new" method of chosing/discerning books! Keep reading :)