A Librarian's Vision

I’m excited about how things are going in the church library that I run! (You can read my past blogs on being a librarian here and here.)

I’m glad my husband suggested I volunteer to take charge of our church's library, since it’s given me more opportunity to explore books and reading. My love of books and my experiences as an author have both linked together in this little library to bring me fresh perspectives on what people read and what people write.

My ‘vision,’ as you will, is to do more than just keep the library running. I feel called to help people connect with books that will be meaningful to them.

There are a few practical ways I intend on making this vision a reality.

The main task that’s taken up the bulk of my time in the library is reorganizing the Adult Fiction shelves. All fiction – from fantasy to thriller to romance to mystery – was amalgamated upon one vast collection of shelves. Understandably, I’ve heard more than one of our church attendees complain that our fiction collection is entirely composed of romance.

Not so, as it turns out. There’s a lot of romance novels, so as a fellow non-romantic-reader, I understand their repulse at even bothering to look through the shelves. But as it turns out, there are some titles that fascinate me hidden within our collection.

Putting all the romance books together, all the mysteries together, all the fantasies together, etcetera, will hopefully make it easier for readers to find fiction books that are meaningful to them.

One book I read recently, “What God Does When Men Lead” (by Bill Peel), made the statement that churches these days tend to be over-feminized, turning off men and leading many to avoid attending church. I’m not sure that’s the case with our church; but after reading that book, I considered which books make up the vast majority of our library. We have, as it turns out, a very feminine-oriented collection!

Since one of our (male) pastors is an avid reader, it is a bit odd that many of the types of books he reads just aren’t on the shelves.

I did a little investigating, and this is my current conclusion: while Christian women are most likely to passionately devour romance novels, Christian men are most likely to casually consume theology books.

When I first started in the library, our Theology and Reference collection fit upon one shelf. I, as a lover of reference books, was quick to separate Theology and Reference and buy some additional reference titles. I’m hoping to expand our Theology section to two shelves (as a start); both by finding theology books that have been mislabeled and hidden in other categories, and by buying theology books that have been recommended by people I trust.

Another potential setback of our library is that many of the books are older titles. I personally believe books don’t have an ‘expiry date;’ but at the same time, it’s welcoming to discover a newly-released book that speaks to today’s issues in a way that is modern and easily relatable. So I’ve been making a point of purchasing newer titles with current topics, such as “12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You” (Tony Reinke) – a look at how to wisely make use of smartphones – and “Planted” (Leah Kostamo), a down-to-earth biography about the environmental movement.

I’ve been kept very busy with these tasks, but can say with joy that the Adult Fiction sorting is coming along nicely, and I’m finally seeing a new order taking shape: one where romance novels are not the only easily-located stories!

Do you agree with my conclusions about what men and women read? Do you prefer reading newer books or older books?