Friday, February 5, 2021

Creating Your Own Parish Library

(St. John - Memphis) - You have found this link because you have volunteered or been asked to organize your church’s library. Get ready for a fun job! I say fun, because you get to wear many hats: storyteller, public relations specialist, creative director, detective, CEO, and data-entry clerk!

The bad news is that the job is time-consuming on the front end and the pay is low, or probably non-existent, but the good news is that you are bringing the life of the Church and the lives of holy men and women to adults and children seeking the Kingdom of God. And there’s even more good news! You don’t have to do this alone, and you are probably the only person who will know if you make a mistake...
Complete article here.

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting this. As someone who struggles to attract more users to our library there are more than a few good pointers here. I particularly like her discernment with the selection of the starter lists...

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  2. The only concern I have is regarding the discarding of old, out of date, torn binding donated books. As an archivist and historian I have found that many of the classic books are in short supply and because of their age are usually not found in the best condition. However there needs to be a discerning eye here because quite frequently difficult to find copies reside in attics and commonly are not recognized for their significance. This is especially true about foreign language materials. I am always looking for such materials and also try to locate a suitable home. I have found that many times materials I have are not in any of our seminary libraries, so we cannot make a flippant judgement that our seminaries have a copy so why preserve this copy. Just offering a word of caution.do not be too hasty in rejecting or disposing of donations.

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  3. I second rj klancko's comments. Antiochian Village's library has a remarkable and important collection of rare Arabic books printed in the Americas and even several manuscripts, largely made up of donations from individuals and parishes that didn't quite know what they were or what to do with them. So if anyone has this type of material, get in touch with their library about donating it!

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