Parish Church Lending Library

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AnnaRose

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I really enjoy reading good Catholic books, but buying them all would be to expensive.

I’d like to start a parish lending library, and need to know how to start one and what the rules would be, etc.

A little help please.

Thank you and God Bless,
AnnaRose :gopray2:
 
You can start with simple things like talking with your pastor to see if this is something he’d support. Where will you house it? How will you fund it?

Then you would do well to find a librarian to work with you. Consider your collection policy, gift policy, circulation policy. When will the library be open? Who will be there to run it or check materials out? Who will select materials? Who will catalog and process materials?
 
Our Parish started one a little over a year ago.

We had space, a small office that is right off the Parish Hall. A retired School librarian assisted in getting it set up, she found a good software system and set up a system.

1100 + books later, we have 6 shelves of books, 2 shelves of kids books, and another couple shelves of books waiting to be catalogued.

We have someone manning the library after the 10 AM Sunday Mass (during CCD and coffee/donuts hour) and on Wed evenings (during RCIA).

When asking for donations, you will get some questionable books donated - having your Priest set up the guidelines for what you will and will not shelve is important.

I use our software every week, but, the name escapes me. I’ll post it as soon as I get up there!
 
We are just starting our library. There used to be one a long time ago, but it was full of questionable books and they were all old and musty.

So, we are now going to have a new one. We are a small parish, so our library will consist of a locking file cabinet/shelf in the vestibule. We have books and DVDs for all ages. I especially focused on family and kids.

I’ve already gotten a good number of books b/c I applied for a grant through our diocesan office and got some money. Check with your diocese about any grant monies you might be able to get, and also work with the parish to establish a donation program. We are accepting money donations, not book donatios-- because we need to examine each book for content.

We aren’t doing anything like a computer system, I am just getting book pockets and cards from this library supply place I found online.

We will have a sign up sheet to take turns before/after Mass to man the cabinet so that people can browse/check out/return.

We are on a very “keep it simple” mentality b/c we are a very small parish and it doesn’t make sense to have a computer, or even a room at this point. When we get to the point where we have that many books-- well, we’ll see about moving to the parish hall somewhere.
 
no one really uses our library.

I suggest instead that you develop a list of very good Catholic books, have a fund raising campaign, and donate them to the local library.

I read an article with this suggestion at The National Catholic Register. It even had a list of books.
 
leonie said:
no one really uses our library.

I suggest instead that you develop a list of very good Catholic books, have a fund raising campaign, and donate them to the local library.

I read an article with this suggestion at The National Catholic Register. It even had a list of books.
Click to expand...
If you do that, check with the library first to make sure they’ll accept them. Assuming they will, this would be a good way of making the books available to the wider community.
 
Thanks to everyone with very helpful information.
May God give all of you His choicest blessings.

AnnaRose 🙂
 
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