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.
Author: semicolonsherry
How do I begin to acquire more books for my library?
You may have been collecting books for a long time before you’re ready to open a lending library. If so, you may indeed know almost all of the tricks of the trade. But just maybe there are a few ideas for finding good, true, and beautiful books that you didn’t know.
Librarian Notices: Sherry Early’s Library Journey
With no grandchildren at the time, I just couldn’t see the books sitting on shelves or in boxes with no one to read them and love them… As the children moved out, the books moved in.
Librarian Notices: The LLF Library in Dallas, Texas
If you had known mom, you would know she would be mortified by us putting her name on this project, and we did refrain from calling it Little Lisa’s Library or something cute like that. But, sorry mom, we are doing all this because of you.
Librarian Notices: Building an Ark
From Sherry Early, Meriadoc Homeschool Library: Blessed are the men of Noah’s race that build their little arks, though frail and poorly filled, and steer through winds contrary towards a wraith, a rumour of a harbour guessed by faith. ~Mythopoeia by JRR Tolkien Like Noah, I am building an ark. My ark looks more like…
Shelving Geography and Non-Fiction History – Sandy Hall
Question: How can I shelve and organize nonfiction history and geography books? This answer is one of several of our featured answers. To see the other answers, click here. Sandy Hall of Hall’s Living Library Here’s my list of categories. Basically, it follows the DD system, just by category rather than numbers. Then I alphabetize…
The Genesis of Covenant Family Library, Elizabeth Jones, Librarian
We set up bookcases at one end of our walk-in basement, the end with the door. Over the years the library space worked its way around until it took up two thirds of the basement. My husband built nice brick steps to get people safely down and around the house, but on snowy days I had people come in the kitchen door and down the basement stairs so they wouldn’t slip and die.
Jeannette Tulis’s Library Journey
From Jeannette Tulis, Green Door Children’s Heritage Library, Soddy Daisy, Tennessee. My love affair with libraries began early. I was the youngest library card holder in Elmhurst, IL. I think the librarians had pity on me as I checked out stacks of books and so they relaxed the age restriction for qualifying for a card….
How can I shelve and organize nonfiction history and geography books?
However, some of us like inventing and reinventing, or we want to do things just a little differently from the way Melvil Dewey shelved his books. SO here a few other possible organizational schemes.
What are some sample fees and policies for private lending libraries?
It is well to be clear in communicating your expectations for payment of fees or fines and of book care and handling to prospective library patrons. Here are a few samples of what various librarians expect from the patrons who borrow books from their private lending libraries. From Elizabeth Jones, Covenant Family Library, West Virginia…
Robin Pack of Children’s Legacy Library in Tennessee
“Robin, have you ever thought about opening a library?” That simple question, asked on a hot, muggy day in August, 2001, changed the trajectory of my life and the lives of the families who would someday walk through my library door. My husband, 10-year-old son, and I were attending a living books gathering “on the…
What is a List of 101 Basic Living Books for a Starter Collection?
This list is not a list of books required to start a lending library or books that must be in every library, but if you want to start collecting, these are 101 books that are good, true, beautiful, and in demand. Most of these books are not prohibitively expensive to purchase or hard to find,…
How do I move an entire library or put it in storage for a while?
From Kathy Twitchell, librarian at Literary Lantern Bearers in Kingfield, Maine. Do you need to move your library? Do you find the need to store some of your collection elsewhere? There are a few things one might consider if one needs to move or store a significant quantity of books. One thing to consider is Distance….
How do library binding processes affect the longevity of the book?
From Kathy Twitchell, Librarian at Literary Lantern Bearers in Kingfield, Maine. Generally speaking, a vintage book was designed to be read dozens of times, if not hundreds. However, there are indeed many variables that affect the longevity of the book. Let’s look at just a few at this point. HARDCOVER versus PAPERBACK: In the past,…
How does paper quality affect the longevity of a book?
From Kathy Twitchell, librarian at Literary Lantern Bearers in Kingfield, Maine. PAGE QUALITY: Just a quick note about pages. The whiter (or creamier) the paper, the less lignin content remains. Lignins naturally occur in plant and wood fibers. The oxidation of these lignins is what makes cheap paper break down over time, yellowing and becoming…