Featured Posts - Our Journeys - Church Librarians Network2024-03-29T11:57:26Zhttps://churchlibrarians.ning.com/journeys/feed/featuredForty Years And Growinghttps://churchlibrarians.ning.com/journeys/forty-years-and-growing2019-06-01T14:49:27.000Z2019-06-01T14:49:27.000ZDebbie Deharthttps://churchlibrarians.ning.com/members/DebbieDehart<div><p>Our church library was started, I believe, about 40 years ago. At the time it consisted of just a few shelves. About 36 years ago, it was taken over by a dedicated lady in our church who grew the library to thousands of items and a good circulation. When a new sanctuary was built, she was able to have a space for the library added right near one of the exits, just steps away from the sanctuary and that visibility has been such a boon for us.</p>
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<p>Six and a half years ago, I was able to join the committee formed by my friend who took over the library, and now the two of us run it together, along with the help of about eight other invaluable committee members. During those years, we have made many changes: weeding, re-organizing, taking down walls to create a more open space, painting walls, purchasing book-related artwork, utilizing a new cataloging system which better meets our needs, and so much more.</p>
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<p>For a while we conducted pre-school story times during Sunday school or Church Time; we've run a summer reading program every summer since we started this venture; we've also sponsored adult reading challenges during the winter; we started producing a monthly newsletter in the fall of 2016. Our library is used by a good proportion of the congregation and there are plenty of people who come in every single week. Circulation numbers are good and we believe we are meeting needs and encouraging our members. We also have good support from our pastors, which we do not take for granted!</p>
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<p>Our church bulletin states that our church's purpose is "Developing fully devoted followers of Christ". Our library has adapted that statement for our own newsletters: as a part of our church's goal, ours is "Equipping fully devoted followers of Christ". We try to keep that goal in mind in everything we do.</p></div>A Church Library Currently in Transitionhttps://churchlibrarians.ning.com/journeys/morlee-s-team-story-about-restarting-a-church-library-right-now2019-05-31T21:30:00.000Z2019-05-31T21:30:00.000ZMorlee Maynardhttps://churchlibrarians.ning.com/members/MorleeMaynard<div><p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Back in January (2019) our pastor and staff started the process of assessing all the ministries of our church as to how each on aligns to the mission, vision, core values, and discipleship process of our church. They determined that our library ministry needed to move in the same direction our church family is going.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"> <strong>On March 27<sup>th</sup>, I officially became the library team leader with no team members. The first task was moving the collection to a new room being created by a building program. With the services of my Sunday School class, we prepared the collection for the move and made the move in four weeks. All of us have jobs and have daily commitments so most of our work was done on Wednesday evenings. The actual move itself had to be done in a few days so many of us readjusted our schedules in order to make it happen by the deadline. To God be the glory!</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"> <strong>Our next step was unloading the borrowed carts which made the logistics possible. That took three Wednesday evenings. Members of my Sunday School class plus a couple of others have continued to set up the space. Currently we are doing an inventory to confirm what items are on the shelves. We hope to finish the inventory during the next two Wednesday evenings.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"> <strong>Layered on top of these actions, we are also working out a new direction for this library ministry. We are dramatically changing the purpose and mission of the collection and the actions of the ministry. Our focus is on making disciples. As we finalize our concept, I will share our two-page description with you. We are very excited about what God is doing in our midst! Hopefully, we will have our grand opening on August 11 when our new building opens.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"> <strong>Grateful,</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Morlee Maynard</strong></span></p>
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