The Mennobrarian

A Christian in the library? Let's hope so.

11:08, Tuesday, November 13, 2007 .. Posted in Library Life .. 5 comments .. Link

One of my fondest memories of being a librarian happened not at the library, but while visiting the church of a good friend.

There was a pulpit exchange that day, and so the Brother preaching did not know, intimately, everyone in the pews that Sunday morning. The message was on "Godly youth" and how to keep youth grounded in Christian life. It was mentioned that no Christian should be found alone in the a public library. I inwardly rolled my eyes, and remained stoic. What I did not anticipate was that immediately after the service, several of the men in the congregation confronted the poor guest Minister.
"What do you mean by saying that no Christian should be alone in a library?" they asked, with great concern.
"Well, a Christian YOUTH probably should not," he replied. Because, of course, the topic was on the youth.
"Oh," said the church members. "Well...someone make sure Monica knows he was talking about youth and not adults. We have a librarian visiting."

And so it is with great interest I address the rare and yet occasional concern that Christians have about the library.

As librarians, we want people to have access to information. That is all. We cannot control what people do with the information. It is very much like, say you were a carpenter, and someone hired you to build a building. You would go ahead and build it, and you may never know what the building will be used for. It could be used for something illegal, something immoral, something less than redeeming. Or it could end up being used for God's glory. There is no way you can control what will happen once you are done. It is very much the same for us, we can direct people to resources that can be helpful and good, but we rarely see the "end result".

There is also much opportunity to encourage good reading habits here, as well. Personally, I do not check-in and check-out books. That job belongs to another department, and it is none of my business what people borrow. We have a thriving Christian readership at our library, and I am glad to promote it.

In any collection of books, there will be things you both agree and disagree with in the content. I can even open a Christian Book catalog and find things I think are good and not so good, written well, or written poorly! At the end of the day- we just want people to be able to have access to information.

Here is a sampling of people who come to us for help:

-The woman dying of cancer and for whom the doctors have already tried everything. She wants information on alternative medicine because she has nothing left to lose.

- The woman seeking a book on how to forgive her husband after an affair.

- The young Spanish man wanting materials so he can learn better English.

- The caretaker and her disabled teenager looking for a recipe on how to make banana bread, because that is their special project today.

- The newly married wife, who has no idea what to make for dinner on a budget, both time and money-wise. (Oh wait, that's me!)

So, let's have a lively hope there is a Christian librarian in your library.
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02:11, Tuesday, November 13, 2007 .. Posted by Kitty
Welcome to the blogger. I have always wanted to work in the library. I would probably spend all day sitting on the floor reading and never get any work done. LOL.
I really don't think the librarian that we have are christians, not too many of them are even nice some days.lol...........Kitty

Thank you for your comment, Kitty! Believe it or not, you would get in trouble for "reading on the job" if you worked in a library! You are just too busy helping people or working with computers. -Mennobrarian

Edited by Mennobrarian on Tuesday, November 13, 2007 at 04:10

:-)

11:42, Wednesday, November 14, 2007 .. Posted by rellamom
I finally got over here to take a peek at your article! Very well thought out! Thank you!

Now, I feel a little less awful about even entering a library. When we went for a Christian book we'd requested and it was on the shelf with a whole row of witchcraft books, I felt disgusted.

And all those videos ... :-(

I hadn't thought of things from the position you had!

Carrie

Thanks, Carrie. We do so much more here, it seems, than libraries did when we were kids. And those witchcraft books never last long...they fly off the shelf and rarely get returned by their borrowers.

Edited by Mennobrarian on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 05:47

Welcome!

12:58, Wednesday, November 14, 2007 .. Posted by Joanne
What a nice post! I love our library....we have a large homeschooling community and our librarians are very supportive :o)
Joanne

Thanks, Joanne! We love homeschooolers here, too!

Edited by Mennobrarian on Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at 05:48

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09:53, Thursday, November 15, 2007 .. Posted by Rose
Hello, Monica! Thanks for answering my question..:-) I was very concerned that my friend was working at a library,now I am not so concerned. But she is a youth.. :-)
I enjoyed reading your "post"!

Hi Rose...I wasn't really intending to blog, but thought answering your question would make a good post, so thanks for asking! If your friend is grounded in the Lord and has caring parents, she may come across things at her new job that will challenge, but not change her. So don't worry! Think of her as being a missionary out here in the information world.

Edited by Mennobrarian on Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 09:49

Hi

12:32, Tuesday, April 15, 2008 .. Posted by MyThreeDaughters
That is a lovely post. I am a Christian and I love my library. They have bought Lauraine Snelling at my suggestion and half about half of the America Christian books that I look for and that is in Australia.