Church Library Donations

This poem by Carolyn Wells says it all:

The books we think we ought to read are poky, dull and dry;

The books that we would like to read we are ashamed to buy;

The books that people talk about we never can recall;

And the books that people give us, oh, they're the worst of all.

Designing a Church Library Survey (Part IV)

Compiling Results

After receiving all the completed surveys (or as many as you’ve managed to collect) mark each tabulated survey clearly so that numbers are not counted twice and your results are correct.

Creating charts and graphs from multiple-choice etc. questions will make the results more readable and establish a higher impact with interested parties. Open-ended data can be presented through excerpts and additional comments.

The results of the survey can be used to:

• Define future needs
• Connect with potential patrons
• Market the library
• Share findings with others church librarians.

Finally, a few quick and dirty tips from Grammar Girl on writing surveys:

1)    Define the goal of the survey

2)    List your questions logically and group together similar topics

3)    Put the easier questions first

4)    Put lengthy, difficult or sensitive questions last

5)    Ask one thing at a time

6)    Avoid biased questions

7)    Thank your respondents!

Resources and Examples of Surveys:

Maine State Library

http://www.maine.gov/msl/mrls/resources/surveys/index.shtml

Islington United Church

http://www.islingtonunited.org/Library_survey_2012.shtml

Park Street Church Library

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=poEf8k7gESs9mevnHocmHw_3d_3d

Crown and Cross Church Library

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/NH9XKCX

Designing a Church Library Survey (Part III)

Questions to Ask

You’ve established the why and the who – now it’s time to determine the what. Types of questions to ask on the survey:

• Frequency of use
• What materials do you use?
• Why do you use those materials?
• Improving the collection
• Improving the facilities
• Potential new services

It’s a good idea to use both closed (yes/no, Likert scale or multiple choice questions) and open (written response) questions in a survey, although close-ended questions are easier to answer and will more likely to get more results. Open-ended questions allow for more in-depth answers but take more time to formulate and tabulate. They also take more effort on the part of the user to complete. It is recommended that an open-ended question take up only 10% of a survey.

Since a library, more so in the case of a church library, is based on a business plan with no actual anticipated revenue, it is important to determine its actual value. If not for the budget proposal then for one’s own personal insight on how services and materials can be improved. A few ways that a survey can assist measuring value is:

• Saving time and/or money
• Formulate new ideas
• Awareness of expectations
• Increasing confidence
• Improve process
• Obtain bigger budget
• Remove redundancy

(Next time: Compiling Results)

Designing a Church Library Survey (Part II)

Beginning Your Survey

The survey process first begins with figuring out what topics need surveying. For a smaller library with a small patron base, a short and to the point survey is probably better. This means a questionnaire that can be completed in 10 minutes or less. A survey is often used to find out about:

• Satisfaction with current services
• Users’ awareness of library services
• Needs for other kinds of information
• Unmet needs in the library and how they can be accomplished
• Responsiveness to requests
• Effectiveness of outreach services
• How the library can provide better service in general.

A survey form should always be pleasing to the eye, uncluttered and easy to follow. Staying in touch with patrons is always an ongoing process. Sometimes it’s best to start simple, like with a single-issue survey, and moving on to something more complex in the future.

Secondly, figure out the logistics of the survey:

• Who will be surveyed
• How will the questions be formatted?
• How will the questions be clear and relevant?
• How will validity be measured?
• How many questions will be included?
• How will the survey be printed and distributed?
• How will the completed surveys be collected?
• How can you encourage users to return the surveys?
• How will the results be calculated and distributed?
• How will the results be used?

 (Next time: Questions to ask on the survey)

Designing a Church Library Survey (Part 1)

It was a bright winter’s day when it suddenly occurred to me that I should consider creating a survey for the church library. Recently, the fellowship committee in our church sent out a questionnaire to the congregation on the topic of the weekly coffee social following the service. Having never sent out a survey myself for the church library, I thought that it was high time that this important outreach ministry be examined at close range.

Since I didn’t have any real experience creating a survey, I did some research on ye olde Internet. I found a really fantastic article by George Plosker from Online magazine. Granted, the article was over 10 years old but its contents were still relatively applicable, as most items or suggestions were of a practical nature. The following is a summary of Plosker’s article Conducting User Surveys: An Ongoing Information Imperative with the information extracted that would be most useful in a church library setting.

Does creating a survey sound like too much work? Here’s a helpful, if not convincing, hint: If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it!

To begin, a survey will do all the following:

• Reveal issues or opportunities
• Identify needs
• Obtain information for strategic planning
• As a bonus – a survey serves as a great marketing tool!

Statistics found that one unhappy customer will tell nine to 13 customers about his or her bad experience, and only 4% of unhappy customers actually complain to the company. So it’s good to know where your patrons are at in order to be aware of needed improvements!

(Next time: Beginning your survey)

Trampin' On Our Turf

In a recent conversation with a fellow church librarian, I came across an issue that I have not experienced personally, but one that is incredibly frustrating to those that do. 

If there’s one thing a church librarian will protect above all else, it’s his or her library’s budget. Every year it’s the same thing; there is an enormous amount of materials that should be purchased but never enough money. So we scrimp and save, taking advantage of the sales and discounts while constantly keeping a close eye on the bottom line.

Despite our best efforts, there’s always something that shatters our attempt to maintain a decent budget. Sometimes it’s cutbacks and other times it’s “cut-ins”. This is a useful little term to describe other committees in the church who view the library’s budget as a free-for-all. For instance, perhaps one group has used their entire budget to send a few members of a conference then suddenly discover some useful resources that, although they will never be catalogued or sit on the shelves of the church library, are nevertheless ‘books’ and should be purchased using the library’s budget. Or maybe there’s another committee that feels as if the library is not purchasing enough of a certain subject. It doesn’t matter that no one else in the congregation would ever glance at the book’s cover, they should be purchased anyway, and on the church library’s dime. But no, let’s take that one step further, this committee deems it necessary that future church library budgets should reserve a certain amount of money for books that they wish to purchase. Forgive me if I’m understanding this situation incorrectly but, isn’t that what your budget is for? As church librarians, we are all for equality and availability but if the library’s budget is going to simply be diced into tiny portions for each committee to use as they see fit, a church librarian has suddenly transformed from a buyer of the books to a gopher for the groups. And at that point, ladies and gentlemen - I, for one, will bow out. 

Books for Single Folks

Source

Recently I came across a tweet that read: “Books in church library for single people: 10. Of those, 9 are about dating, sex or marriage preparation. There’s something wrong here.” This really got me thinking. First of all, I wondered how many single people do we have in our church? So I had a look through the church directory and counted up all the potential single individuals. (Not exactly scientific, but I wanted a general idea) There were 21. That’s in comparison to the approximate 370 people in our church. After ten long minutes of agonizing calculations – math is not my strong suit – I arrived at the conclusion that single people make up almost 6% of the population of our church. Not enormous, since we have a high population of young families in our church right now, but definitely significant. With those numbers, surely we would have an adequate number of books in our collection to meet the needs of that percentage. Right?

So on to part two: what books do we have in our church library for single people? I had a look. 

Here’s what I found:

Singles at the Crossroads, a devotional by Albert Hsu from 1997.

Guys like girls named Jennie and If I’m waiting on God then what am I doing in a Christian chat room? both by Kerri Pomarolli from 2008 and 2006.

Let’s just be friends by Norman H. Wright from 2002. (This is more for the person who has recently returned to singleness after a relationship)

Three words: Shameful, shocking and inexcusable.

The fact that we have over 2200 items in our church library and only four of them are dedicated to a single person’s faith life is, in a word, deplorable. So I hit the Internet with a vengeance and found a number of excellent books to add to our collection:

10 Best Decisions a Single Can Make: Embracing All God Has for You by Bill and Pam Farrel

Be Radiant: Become who God meant you to be by Lee Cummings

Beyond Waiting: Redefining the Purpose of Singleness by Rebekah Snyder

Party of One: Living Single with Faith, Purpose and Passion by Beth Knobbe

Redeeming Singleness: How the Storyline of Scripture Affirms the Single Life by Barry Danylak

This experience taught me that I cannot be blinded by general categories such as men/women or different age groups while doing collection development. It’s also important to consider other matters such as relationship status (widowed, divorced, single parent, married, single etc.), areas of profession (student, stay-at-home mom/dad, empty nesters, retirees etc) and even reading levels (graphic novels, large print, audiobooks etc.).

*Here’s the next question though. What category could these books be shelved under? 

Double-Checking Saves Budgets

I recently had an Adventures in Odyssey DVD returned to the church library with a note attached. The note informed me that although they liked the DVD, the entire middle section of the disc had disappeared off the television – both picture and sound. Knowing it was an older DVD that had gone out many times I didn’t doubt the patron’s message. I took the DVD home and was about to toss it out when I paused, opened the case and looked at the back of the disc. It was dirty. So I sat down and cleaned it. Then I put it in the DVD player. I watched the entire DVD – picture and sound throughout the entirety. 
Lesson learned! Don’t doubt the word of your patrons – but always double-check, just to be safe.

A 'Pinteresting' Development (Part V)

I had a terrible urge to name this post: "A 'Pinteresting' Development: The final (paper) Cut" but I resisted. Still, it has a bit of a ring to it, don't you think? 

Best Practices for Pinterest

• Content must be organized, applicable and relevant
• Focus on sharing and building relationships
• Keep boards and pins up to date with the season, holidays and current events.
• Re-pinning is good but originals are better
• Use eye-catching images and add links
• Be aware of copyright infringement and credit the original source
• Provide individual pin descriptions with key words and boards with clear file names
• Implement a social element: Allow users to pin to board(s) to allow an interactive feature with congregation members
• Add a Pinterest share tab to your church’s website (if you have one)

 New to Pinterest? Check out this post to learn a little more about it!

Glossary of Pinterest Terms

Pin: To post or publish an image or video

Repin: To repost or republish an image or video that someone else has already pinned on your own board under your own account

Like: Clicking ‘like’ will archive the pin under your Likes List but will not be republished on one of your boards. It is a means of showing interest but not actually adopting the idea.

Comment: Used to share ideas, give praise or criticism or create an opportunity for conversation. The pinned image or video that is commented on will not be repined to your boards or archived under your Likes List.

Board(s): A virtual pin board where pinned images and videos can be archived and organized according to category.

Follow: Unlike Twitter and Facebook, you can follow anyone you like without being pre-approved.

Hashtags: Attaching the symbol (#) to keywords to make it searchable on social media platforms.

Sources for Glossary Terms: Social Media at Work and Intelligent Design Media

Be sure to click on the Pinterest tab and check out what the Devout Librarian finds ‘pinterest-ing!’

NYR Update

Upon reflection, I think I’ve created more of a general to-do list than an impressive inventory of New Year’s resolutions. Upon even more reflection – about 2.5 seconds’ worth – I decided to stick with the list anyway. Besides, I already completed one of them! 

Yesterday, amid much pomp and circumstance, I was able to install the new bookcase in the church library. Actually, it was a lot of huffing and puffing on my part, lugging the heavy thing up the stairs and down the hallway. It does look pretty amazing though, and much more organized! 

Hurrah! One down and four to go!

New Year's Resolutions

If you’ve been following my tweets you’ll know that I’ve had a countdown to December 31 highlighting my top five new year's resolutions. Now, a new year's resolution can be a wonderful thing. There is potential for fresh beginnings and developing new (good) habits. Notice that I said potential. Making a resolution is all well and good but sticking to it is something else altogether. Apparently 8% of those who actually make a NYR are able to keep it! Last year I resolved to stop smoking. Fortunately for me, I’ve ever smoked a day in my life. This year I’m taking it up a notch. Actually, five notches. In 2013 I’m hoping to see through a number of changes in the church library. 

#5 Move the new bookcase into the church library
We’re mega short on space. This is more of a required necessity than an ideal objective.

#4 Boost collection development of fiction for guys
I’ve been working towards improving this section of our church library. I have made great strides in this area but I still seem to have an enormous ratio of romance to mystery novels. 

#3 WEEDING 
Admittedly a continuous work in progress.

#2 Update/Improve the nonfiction section
About four years ago I removed over eight full boxes of books from the nonfiction section in the attempt to keep the materials’ year of publication hovering around 1990. Although it’s a lesser used section than the fiction (by a long shot) it would still be nice to have items available that were published during this century. Time for another purge!

#1 New volunteers!  
The wonderful people I have helping me in the church library have been faithfully showing up every third Sunday for as long as I’ve been there. It’s definitely time to get some new faces in the mix! This resolution is one that I’m going to really focus on this year and do the research to ensure success. 

Here’s hoping I’m in that 8% for 100% of my resolutions! 
Have a safe and happy New Year!

Book Review: Waiting for Mr. Right

Check out the latest book review here! 
Waiting for Mr. Right by Lisa Raftery and Barbara Precourt

"[This book] outlines the roles of godly parents, daughters and boyfriends and how all of them interact and work together to fulfill their calling as true followers of Christ."

Thank You Volunteers!

For the past two years I’ve been giving my wonderful church library volunteers little treats to thank them for their help during the year. Two years ago I made them sugar cookies and last year I made them almond bark. This year, I thought I’d try something a little more artsy. Thanks (again) to Pinterest, I was able to put together something that was appropriately themed and a little tasty! 

The thank-you / Christmas gift for this year consisted of a small pair of winter gloves, scented hand sanitizer, hand lotion and, of course, some chocolate to sweeten the deal! 

Now the only question is – what am I going to do next year?

Healing Hurting Hearts

The Advent Sundays leading up to December 25 illustrate that Christmas is a time of peace, hope, love and joy! It’s a time to remember our Saviour’s birth and celebrate the fact that God sent his Son to be “God with Us.” It’s also a time to come together as families and celebrate the blessings we’ve been given by gathering around the dinner table or exchanging gifts under the Christmas tree. Whatever it may be, Christmas is an anticipated time of year for the excitement and joy that it brings.

Not everyone, however, experiences joy at Christmastime. There are people who may dread the Christmas season. Those who have lost loved ones or who are alone can feel the incredible sting of loneliness and grief. Even those whose hope is in the Lord can feel the pangs of despair during this time of year. 

In our family, we try to alleviate this feeling by sharing memories and laughing about funny stories from the past. Some, however, do not have the luxury of a large family to help share the burden of grief. Some are forced to go it alone. 

This week, many people’s thoughts are centred around the families who lost loved ones in Newtown, Connecticut. They will feel a glaring and heart-wrenching absence for Christmas this year, if they’re even able to celebrate at all. Those families need our love and support, even if only through prayer. But there are others who live in our own community who have also suffered tragedy and loss. They will also have an empty seat at their Christmas dinner table. A kind word. A hug. A Christmas card. A tin of cookies. Any of these simple acts might make a world of difference to someone experiencing loneliness or lingering grief. 

In our church library, I created a section for people who have experienced loss. Unlike some other systems that categorize this section of non-fiction as ‘grief,’ I chose instead to assign it the subject heading ‘healing.’ Healing suggests finding comfort, discovering peace and becoming healthy again. 

Here are a few encouraging reads from our collection:
In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart By Ruth Graham
A Passage Through Grief By Barbara Baumgardner
Trusting God Again: Regaining Hope After Disappointment or Loss by Glandion Carney and William Long
Waiting for Morning: Seeking God in our Suffering by James Kok

And two classics:
When God Doesn’t Make Sense by Dr. James Dobson
Where is God when it hurts? By Philip Yancey

Remember those who are in the process of healing so that they can also share in the joy, hope, peace and love that Christmas brings!

Crafty for Christmas

I made a conscious effort this year to decorate the church library for the holiday season. Nothing extremely festive, of course, but distinctly Christmas-y. Last year I just didn't have the energy, thanks to my three-month-old son (at the time) who discovered within the first two second of life that crying was his favourite past time. As his moods have somewhat improved since then, I found that I have had the time to employ the right side of my brain.

Here is what I was able to accomplish: (Pinterest must receive much of the credit for this first one)

This is what I set up two years ago. It has now been relegated to a side show - but still passes on the message of Christmas! 

Although my church library decor this year falls a little short of potential pinned possibilities, it's a good start.  

A Dying Breed...

We interrupt this Pinterest Presentation for an important announcement…

Something was posted on the National Church Library Association’s Facebook page this week and that something concerned me a great deal. Due to declining membership and insufficient funding, the NCLA will be closing up shop at the end of this year. This announcement came as a surprise to me as I have often enjoying checking their Facebook page, searching through forum archives and reading Branches, the NCLA’s monthly e-newsletter. 

What’s even more disturbing is that the NCLA has been in existence for over 50 years. How could such an excellent organization like this come to such a swift and abrupt end after five decades of leadership for church libraries? Every organization has their ups and downs, to be sure. But to cease existence? That is not only troublesome, it may also be an indication of the future of other church library associations that may currently range from a thriving presence to existing on a wing and, as always, a prayer. 

What has seen this dramatically negative change come about? Financial uncertainty may take centre stage but there are always other contributing factors waiting in the wings. Lack of interest? Dwindling participation? Isn’t there some random fact that states 80% of the work done in a church family is completed by 10% of the congregation? I’m willing to bet that similar numbers exist in volunteer organizations. I can write this without malice as I was part of the local church library association and it was not easy to find people to replace those who had been on the board for almost a decade.  

So what does this all mean? For one thing, a number of church librarians who used to depend on the NCLA will be left in the lurch. It was interesting to note how quickly other surviving church librarian associations swooped in to leave their information for potential members! Although I’m sure those posting meant well, it was bordering on exploitation – but that’s another matter altogether. 

Like any other library these days, the church library has to fight to survive and must have a dedicated group at the helm to keep patrons (and the budget!) coming back. I always found that an association not only gives credence to one’s work but also offers a support system. I hope that members of the former NCLA will be able to find other avenues of support, whether online or in person, to keep their church library ministry alive and well! 

A 'Pinteresting' Development (Part II)

Top 10 Ways to use Pinterest for Your Church Library

New to Pinterest? Check out this post to learn a little more about it!

1. Displaying covers of new books, ebooks or popular collections
2. Showcasing your church’s history through photos or articles
3. Announcing upcoming programs or events in your church
4. Present current displays or bulletin boards in the church.
5. Create reading lists or read-alike lists
6. Tips and Advice for library-related matters (tech tips or teaching children to read)
7. Promoting library volunteers in action!
8. Highlighting local events or attractions (museums, fundraisers, festivals, productions)
9. Posting pictures of the church (meeting rooms, nursery, sanctuary in order to create a familiar atmosphere)
10. Creating a collaborative social pin board for members of your congregation who are on Pinterest. It gives the opportunity to submit ideas for book clubs, programs and collection development. This way, the church library is able to interact with members of the congregation who have never used the church library before. 

Additional ideas would be: Popular authors, Holiday crafts, New DVDs, Book-ish crafts for kids, Staff picks, [Church name] photo of the week, Photo contests, Creative bookmarks, Books you faked reading, What to do with old books etc.

Currently, the Devout Librarian’s Pinterest page has these boards:

• Church Library Décor
• Profound Quotes
• Inspiring Scripture
• Operation Christmas Child
• Laughter, the Spark of the Soul
• Teen Christian Fiction
• Christmas Décor
• Kids’ Crafts and Programs
• Wishlist
• Promotion Ideas
• New Christian Fiction
• Bulletin Boards
• Bookmarks
• Volunteers
• Remembrance Day 

Be sure to click on the Pinterest tab and check out what the Devout Librarian finds ‘pinterest-ing!’

Next time: Integrating Pinterest with other social networks

A Pinteresting Development (Part I)

As you can see by the red tab on the top-right of this page, the Devout Librarian has joined the ranks of Pinterest! By now, there are a precious few who haven’t heard about this latest technological phenomenon. But if you haven’t tapped in to the Pinterest hotline, here’s a little bit of background info. 

Pinterest is a combination of a social network and content sharing platform. It is, essentially, a virtual pinboard where users can organize and share just about anything they find on the Internet. Whether it’s redecorating a house or creating an online recipe box, Pinterest is an excellent tool that will allow the user to not only create and build their own collection of information, but be inspired by other users’ ‘pins’.

Pinterest was launched in December 2009 with an initial 9,000 users. Nine months later the numbers had increased to 10,000. After some excellent publicity and the development of an app for Apple’s iPhone, visits to the website average 11 million per week in December 2011, two years after its creation. When the site began, it was invite only and those with an interest in joining sometimes had to wait until an invitation was extended for them to join. In August of this year, however, that exclusivity was discarded and the site opened up to anyone interested in creating an account. 

The statistics breakdown:
11.7 million users on Pinterest
68% are women and 32% are men
1.36 million visitors/day
The average user spends 89 minutes/day browsing on Pinterest
(statistics from Mashable and Social Media Delivered)

Pinterest is also an excellent tool for online advocacy and one that, if done well, takes little effort for the initial party. This is because Pinterest is an exceptional resource for link building. Once something is pinned to a virtual board on Pinterest, it is easy for anyone to re-pin it to their board and someone else may repin it again, creating an excellent set of backlinks. Since Pinterest differs from Facebook in the way that anyone can see and re-pin your content (in Facebook you must be ‘friends’ to share any added content) there is much more opportunity for one’s pins to be viewed and shared. In order to find out if content from one’s boards are being re-pinned, just replace “yoursitename.com” in this link with one’s URL: http://pinterest.com/source/yoursitename.com/

Those who are not signed up for a Pinterest account can still explore pins and boards online but they cannot participate (liking a pin, repining, creating personal boards) until signed up for an account.

Pinterest in Libraries

As expected, many libraries were able to find a way to use this new social media platform to their advantage. Used the right way, Pinterest gives a library the opportunity to present a visual display of its collection and events to the public. This display is never static but is in a constant cycle of change and additions so that there’s always something new to discover. A few of the libraries that have made good use of Pinterest are:

• Coffee County Public Library
• Bloomingdale Public Library
• Indian Prairie Public Library
• LaGrange Public Library
• Windsor Public Library
• O’Fallon Public Library
• New York Public Library
• North Bay Public Library

Be sure to click on the Pinterest tab and check out what the Devout Librarian finds ‘pinterest-ing!’

Next time: 10 ways to use Pinterest for your church library

Calling All Volunteers!

Our church library is in need of volunteers…again. The lovely ladies I have helping out at the moment are fantastic but since we started having two volunteers per Sunday instead of one, our human resources have been stretched a little thin. In order to encourage a few new faces to become part of the church library entourage, I put a little poster in the library that I created on www.wordle.com. All I did was look up a number of synonyms for ‘volunteer’ and type them in. Then I adjusted the poster to just the way I wanted it and sent it to print. It was simple, timely and definitely on budget. Hopefully it will also produce good results! 

Laughter: The Spark of the Soul