We are trying to restart an old library at Prentiss Baptist Church. We have a room used jointly with a Sunday School class and some committee meetings. The room is in a good location for a library and has old but usable shelving.
The problem......Most books are copyrighted no later than the late seventies and are not in very attractive condition. What to do with all these hundreds of old books, is the main problem. We have boxed them up and are going through them gradually weeding them but it is a very slow job and there are so many books that just do not come up to the standards we need for an attractive, appealing collection.
Any suggestions, guidance, encouragement, would be appreciated.
Replies
I gave a lot of my old books to the Literacy Association. You could also donate to Salvation Army, Miracle Hill Ministries, etc.
How many Bibles should a church library have? I know this sounds like an ironic question, but we have dozens of bibles of various types and conditions that people have donated over the years. I'm inclined to keep or acquire three to six study Bibles of good quality and give the remaining Bibles to anyone who needs one.
Depending on your location, you can put up a Little Free Library. Google it for info. Do you have a used bookstore that might do trades or store credit? Some colorful books are good for Bible Journaling. There are some artists that make wonderful things from old books. Check Pinterest and see if there are local artists.
I used the opportunity of moving my library to check all cataloging and ownership stamps.
I would be very careful for weeding "out of date" books. Some reference are not. Some biographies are not.Some "how to" as in teaching are not necessarily out of date.
Just because they are old and don't look pretty, doesn't mean they wouldn't be useful to the congregational activities. Please get to know you congregation and their activities and look for books to save which would go along with those activities. Sometimes these books also have bibliographies in them, or courses, which would be great for some sort of reference one could use to update the issues presented. Books by Paul Tillich, Martin Buber, C.S. Lewis, Walter Rauschenbusch (social gospel), and others never go out of date; they are history and philosophy. Books of Poems whether old or new are often filled with excellent poems that inspire.
An approach might be to decide the catagories your members are interested in, and find and keep those first...including your ministers.
I'm trying to restart an old library at Memorial Baptist Church in Seekonk, MA. I'm experiencing similar challenges plus the fact that I am not a librarian. Well, God must have put this on my heart for a reason. I'm interested to know how the Prentiss Baptist Church has made out since 2010.
Looks like Sarah's email address has changed so we have no way to connect with her. BUT we have lots of others in our midst who are doing what you are doing or have done what you are doing now. I will include your request in our Monday email to call attention your your needs here. Great discussion topic!
Morlee
Let me expand that to include any efforts to restart an old library, recent and not so recent. What was the result? What challenges did you face? How did you deal with them. What questions am I, in my ignorance, failing to ask?
As for getting NEW books, some online suppliers will let you set up a guest registry where folks can pay for a book(s) that you've preselected as something you want for your NEW library. Then you just need to publicize it to the congregation and especially to your regular patrons. Could you publicize it in the: church bulletin, church website, posters, on bookmarks you hand out at your checkout counter? Email blast or Twitter?
You might also want to create a Book Plate (easy to do with computers and labels) that you can honor patrons who donate the books, or in memory or honor of someone they'd like to remember. Having a display of the book plate with some info on the online donation program might spur some interest. People aredownsizing these days and might prefer to donate a book, especially if you let them know that they can be the first one to check it out once it arrives. Mutual benefit - they get first dibs on it, but don't have to store it afterward, and can check it out again or refer others to it!
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