The Church Library Ministry
Church
Policies
BASIC CHURCH LIBRARY MINISTRY POLICY (Phase 1 – Spring 2026 rev.)
This short policy provides the highlights of the more
detailed “Consideration”, “Selection” and “Deselection” Policies. Those
policies will be used to answer to questions that are more complex. "Our
goal is to provide information, inspiration and motivation to help people grow
spiritually so they can reach out actively."(2014)
2. Library materials will relate to the church mission,
interests and concerns of church staff, ministry leaders, church members of all
ages, and guests from the community.
3. Library material should:
a. Be of good literary quality and
should reflect orthodox Christian/Baptist doctrine (except for reference works
useful for teaching or presentations).
b. Support our focus on building
spiritual lives and informing/ inspiring people to pursue a life of mission,
witness, and outreach.
c. Be recently published (last ten
years), except for classics or materials that fill a special need within the
collection.
4. Donated library
material is subject to the approval of the Library Committee and/or Church
Leadership. No provisional gifts, or gifts with any ‘strings’, are accepted.
Gifted or donated material cannot be placed in special collections, or kept
together. They will be cataloged into the total library collection of
resources.
a. All gifts of donated material must
meet the same standards as purchased items and must be in good condition.
b. Donations may be added to the
collection, disbursed to mission locations, sold, given to other non-profits, given
away, or discarded.
c. All monetary gifts as memorials or
donations are welcome. The Library Committee will choose appropriate media with
the monetary gifts, guided by the selection policy. All such gifts must be
addressed to the Church Office with a notation on the check “Church Library
Ministry”.
5. Our library
collection is continually reviewed, and each item is evaluated as to its
current value in meeting the needs of users. Space must always be available to
house quality media that will best serve our church community. The
discarded items will be donated to other missions or nonprofits.
6. If a church member
considers a particular library item inappropriate, they can make a written
challenge to the Library Committee. The Committee will then review the
challenge and a decision rendered to the individual bringing the complaint.
Ministerial staff will have final authority over the decision.
7. The Library
Committee will review this policy at least every two years or more often as
needed.
Church Library Policy Manual (Phase II)
A Ministry of Church, Oklahoma City (2026, rev.)
Mission Statement
The Church
Library Ministry supports the local congregation in its mission to make
disciples of Jesus Christ. Its ministry is to provide our church community with
quality, current, and diverse sources of information, inspiration, and
motivation to help people grow spiritually so they can reach out actively as Disciples
of Jesus Christ.
Motto: Information - Inspiration - Motivation
Tagline: Learning is for a Lifetime
Philosophy
Today, our society faces an ever-widening literacy gap of
both cultural knowledge (including familiarity with basic stories of the Bible)
and basic reading skills. We have at our finger tips more raw data
(information) than ever before in history yet we understand and think
less. Skills in critical evaluation of information is absent or shallow
for most individuals in our society. Added to that levels of “Biblical
literacy” in society are also very low.
What this means if we are “people of the Book”…. fewer people
are actually reading that book. Teachers trying to find common ground to
share the Gospel message find they have no common language anymore because
stories, terms, phrases once so common have gone out of use. New styles
of learning, teaching, ministry, and outreach have to develop to make a
difference in our congregations and our communities.
The Church Library of the 21st century is
recreating itself to be a vital and integral aspect of congregational
development and partnership across groups and into the community.
Scope of Collection
The needs of the ministry groups, the mission of the church,
and the space for the library will determine the types of materials/resources
collected.
·
Primarily
the development will focus on individuals becoming Christ followers by building
skills at reading and understanding God’s word.
·
It
will focus on developing in small groups and families skills for reading,
understanding, and sharing the Bible with others.
·
It
will make sure that teachers and small group leaders have helpful supportive resources for Biblical studies,
programming, and recreational reading for adults, youth, and children ( in
proportion to their populations in the church).
·
Resources
will be collected in Phase 1 - in print (regular and Large Print); In Phase 2
adding DVD, and/or computer-based resources (as funding & space allows).
·
A
collaborative partnership will be explored, as fits into the mission of the
church, between the church history
committee, Christian education groups, and others.
Collection Development Policy
The library’s collection is a living, changing, entity. As
items are added, others are reviewed for their ongoing value and sometimes
withdrawn from the collection. Decisions are influenced by many factors:
·
Patterns
of use (when was it last used?)
·
Shelf
space (the capacity of the location and the holdings of other libraries nearby
that may specialize in a given subject matter).
·
Condition
(torn, yellowed, pages or covers falling apart)
·
Outdated
(do the images reflect today’s reader among youth, adults or special groups? Is
the format or reading level appropriate for the users?)
·
No
longer aligned with missional focus (demographics, ministry, and similar
factors may require a shit in collection to better support mission alignment).
Committee reviews the collection regularly to maintain its
vitality and usefulness to the church community. Books may be sold, given away, or recycled.
Selection and Deselection Policy
The final authority for the Library collection rests with the
library committee. Implementation of collection development policy and
management of the collection is assigned to Library staff. The Church Library
disposes of materials withdrawn according to the criteria for weeding and
withdrawal outlined below.
Criteria for Adding Materials:
- Item
fulfills a need in the curriculums, addresses a current topic or interest,
or has been requested by enough people to show it will meet a need.
- Items
added will be as current as possible (few books, with the exception of
some classics and some reference works, should be any older than about 15
years). AV materials (DVD’s, etc.) should be current and there should be
adequate equipment to utilize the item (no cassettes if no one uses those,
for example).
- Items
should be in good to excellent condition and sturdy enough to withstand
circulation.
- Items
should be balanced and objective in their presentation of facts or
information. Although emphasis will be on presenting complex issues and
themes through a lens of spiritual values, having access to other views,
may be useful for reference.
Criteria for Withdrawing and Disposing of Materials:
- Lack
of use, poor condition, no longer of use to curriculum or ministry, and
outdated information/ look are all good reasons to discard a resource.
- Discarded
items should be offered (a) to church members and community via a book
sale or (b) an ongoing book shelf
of sale items.
- Remainder
items from such sales should be offered to: (a) other church libraries,
(b) other relevant ministries (prisons, schools, etc.) or (c) donated to
the local public library for their annual book sale.
- Carefully
note if the book has any special ‘archival’ significance before
discarding. Was it written by a past pastor or church member? Work with the History Committee to
identify potential works of lasting historical significance.
Gifts and Donations
Materials may be accepted but are subject to the collection
development and selection policies of the library. Formal acceptance of large
or expensive gifts will be acknowledged through a note from the Library
Committee/Chair. The library cannot
create a donor list of materials and cannot assign value to items donated.
Post donation
Restrictions
The CLM adheres to standard library practices in that
donations of personal collections or books are cataloged into the total library
holdings.
·
This
means that they cannot be shelved separately, or kept together, in a standalone
collection.
·
The
donation will be recorded in a donation book.
Use and Access
Long range plan: Initially the CLM seeks to support the
membership and staff of the local church. A possible goal would be to expand
that outreach to also provide spiritual and literacy support into the
surrounding community.
One way would be “Little
Library” project to provide free books/devotionals, Bibles, to those who cross
the church parking lot. This might serve as entry points to connect the church
to its community. Contact information
for talk or prayer would be posted on the “Little Library”.
Phase 1: Honor system check out.
Phase 2: An application will be required for an individual to
check out materials.
For
additional helps and links: http://www.lifelonglibrary.blogspot.com
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