I had a great conversation with my pastor today about the Library and its use. We are a struggling library that does not have much use at all due to various factors.
He suggested that we have some sort of Survey/ Questionnaire for our Parents and Sunday School Teachers about how the Library could help them. (Kinda Like a feasibility Study of sorts). I was hoping to get some insight as to what everyone might put on this questionnaire.
I am currently thinking of having separate ones for the Sunday School teachers, the Parents, and maybe even the Kids. I would love anyone's thoughts on this topic.
Replies
You might ask:
Have you ever been to, or checked a book out from, the church library?
If not, it would be very helpful to us if you would share why not.
This isn't a question, but an activity which has worked for us. One Sunday a month there is story time in the library during the sermon time. The elementary-aged children leave with a volunteer and go to the library. The volunteer reads and discusses a book with the children and then they have an opportunity to check books out. The parents pick their children up from the library, thus getting them into it. Since our service is recorded the volunteer can view the sermon later.
I don't want to be a downer, but I did a survey years ago for a church of several hundred and got 2 replies. I used multiple choice questions with at least one silly answer for each. Then space for comments. By all means do it, but maybe have a treat for each one turned in. Maybe require the answers to be delivered to the library to get the treat. Post reminders in the bathrooms and everywhere else you can think of. Maybe a drawing at the end for a prize. And put a deadline for returning the surveys to get the treat.
Then publish some of the results (if you have a church newsletter or website)
Here's the Google Sheet in a Word Document.
Parent Book Recommendations.docx
Thank you so much this has been so helpful!
This is an email we sent out to parents with a Google Sheet attached for them to fill out.
As we fill the holes in our Grace Church Library, I want to ask some parents for their input. One of our biggest holes is in Junior Chapter Books. We have a nice collection of older, more dated books, and we want to add some updated books. The Library Mission states: The Grace Church Library exists to assist people of all ages in becoming devoted followers of Jesus by supplying resources that support spiritual growth.
This means we want books that have a clear Christian worldview through which the Bible leads kids in decision making. It can be allegories, like C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, or everyday kids in situations who decide they shouldn’t lie even if it seems that’s what would work out best.
The last column in the chart is for others to second a recommendation so we know that more than one parent recommends it. More than one can “Agree”.
Please feel free to add some suggestions for Young Adult Books also. This is another collection that’s hard to fill.
Chapter Books loosely cover early readers (2nd or 3rd grade to 5th or 6th). Young Adult Books loosely cover Junior High to ???. I still enjoy reading Young Adult Books!
Thanks for your input and let me know if you have any questions,
Roxy
Here is a copy of the Google Sheet (with names deleted):
Untitled spreadsheet - Google Sheets
Here's a survey we sent out to the Pastors as we are trying to revitalize our Library.
https://forms.gle/3gyBV7RLAKUuJLMv