When I arrived in the church basement, there were a couple of elderly church ladies sitting there all alone, and I discovered many boxes of beautiful vintage children’s books…most still in Dewey Decimal order, as they had just been pulled off the shelves of a library. Little did I know, but the church was attached to a school that had just closed its doors, and I was looking at the entire contents of the school library!
Author: semicolonsherry
Erin Hassett’s Library in Australia
I make my home in Clarence Valley, NSW, Australia with my husband, ten children, aged thirty to ten, and two daughters-in-law, though only five of our children now live at home. We live on a rural property with cattle and chickens, with the children driving 4WD’s and dune buggies and swimming in the dam. Our children have always been home educated, and we have graduated six thus far.
Ashley Borrego and Cornerstone Living Library
It took about six months from the first time I suggested the idea to the church leadership until they approved it as a new ministry that they would support and finance, with me as the volunteer director. During that time, I did a considerable amount of research on how to run a library. I had to make a detailed plan, create a realistic budget, and made multiple presentations to various groups within the church.
Kathleen Seeger’s Library Journey
“Cooperates quite well, but all books have to be hers.” Written by my mother when I was just one year old, this statement lines up perfectly with the memories in my head, that as far back as I can remember, I have always loved books.
How do you handle library discards that already have stickers, stamps, and bar codes?
And by the way, librarians who stamp large DISCARD stamps over the print in a discarded book should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Too bad there is no law against huge, black (or red) DISCARD stamps.
Stacie Bean’s Humble Library
Over the years, we learned to visit the used book booths when at homeschool conferences and to stop in libraries when traveling to see if they had a book sale section or room. It seemed we could always find some treasure for each member of the family. Once, a friend and I got a call that a local school was throwing their entire library collection into their school dumpster. What do you think we did?? Minivans here we come!
Emma Filbrun’s New Zealand Library
We’re open when we’re home. Very few people use it, as I said, so it’s no problem. I mail books to people who request them, after they pay for the postage. Eventually, if the books haven’t come back, I ask for them back. I do not charge fees, other than the postage fee.
Books by Mail and Me
We live in a small town in the middle of nowhere. I have owned more books than the tiny local public library for at least two decades. We rapidly outgrew their collection before the oldest of our six children turned ten. Because our town’s library service was so limited for so many years, we qualified for the state library’s Books by Mail program, as did the majority of smaller towns in the state. We have borrowed many hundreds of books this way. Because the Maine State Library is taxpayer funded, there was no fee for this service IF your town met the qualifications. If the town was not on the list, the service was not available at all.
How do you make your own dust jacket or paper book cover for a book that doesn’t have a book jacket?
To make your own book jacket that will cover, beautify, and protect a jacket-less book, try the following steps.
With limited shelf space, how do I decide which books to collect and keep?
Even if it is easily found elsewhere, like the public library, is it one that someone in my family or some of my library patrons will love and want easy, frequent access to? If that’s the case, then it’s worth shelf space to me.
How and why do librarians cover their dust jackets with plastic?
Some people find book jackets, aka dust jackets or dust covers, annoying, but most librarians want to keep and protect these covers on the books that have them for several reasons.
Kristi Stansfield’s Library Story
A few years ago, probably in self-defense, my husband installed a 12 ’x 26’ building next to our house, finished the walls, and provided electricity for the lending library. Life intervened with some unforeseen events, and I’m still setting up the library with a goal of it being officially open to memberships in 2024.
Mary Schubert’s Library Journey
Even before I was introduced to Charlotte Mason’s philosophy, I knew the greater value of narration versus multiple choice. During the summer months, I turned my children loose to browse the shelves of our public library for summer reading, to find whatever interested them versus what they were “told” to read because they could be quizzed on it. To this day, I still believe the most successful reading program is both reading to your child from conception and finding books that they are interested in reading.
Amanda Smith, The Community Hub
My goal is to be a complete alternative to the public library by offering a variety of Christian creation based resources including books, audiobooks, dvd, cd, games, and homeschool curriculum. In the future I’d like to add homeschool resources such as a laminator, comb binder, and science equipment like telescopes and microscopes. Starting soon I’d also like to add programs such as story times, summer reading programs, and book clubs. I want to have all of the resources that my family used at the public library. I feel that God has called me to run this library and that this is my mission field.
Where do I find affordable living books to add to my library?
Don’t get in a hurry to grow your library. Try some of the above techniques and places for finding good books, and add the books, a few at a time, to your library for the benefit of your own family and the families of your library patrons or future patrons. Just be patient and diligent as God gives the increase.