Library Donations Guidelines
Over the past 18 months, a committee of our members have worked, as time permitted, to clean up our library collection, removing “out of date” and largely unused materials to make room to add newer items. Our work continues as we are preparing a current list of our collection. (Thanks to Sara & David Johnson for the donation of a lap top computer and Kathy Vetter for installing software and helping us learn to use it!).
We now have some empty shelf spaces and are able to receive donations of books that will fill in some of our gaps!
A few months ago, we did a survey to identify categories of interest as a guideline for future needs. The top three categories of interest were:
- Religious topics (Bible study, devotionals, theology etc.)
- Literary Fiction
- Biographies
We would appreciate your keeping these categories in mind when donating. We would also ask that you consider the following guidelines.
- Date of publication—We especially need works published 2015 to the present. Exceptions, of course, would be classics and other timeless works.
- Interest to the congregation. For example, books that are being used or that relate to ongoing study topics. (the discussions about faith and political issues or the upcoming “Authentic discussions of spiritual issues”)
- Books being read in our book club or others. Books you have enjoyed that you found interesting and would like to share that would be good additions to our collection.
There are several charitable organizations, such as Goodwill that will generally accept a wider variety of books. Simply call and ask.
If you do plan to donate books, please call (contacts listed below) to make sure that the library can be opened and that there is currently space to keep them. We are usually at church on Sundays. Donations should be in small to medium sized boxes or bags strong enough to hold them, and placed in corners of the library. The desk and table are our only work areas and should be left clear.
We appreciate very much your help in updating our collection through your donations. We will continue working toward opening the library during the coffee hour on Sundays for you to borrow books of interest to you. When we are ready to do this, we will need volunteers to oversee the library and assist with check outs. If you would like to help or have questions about donations, please contact Karen Ellingson* or Sharon Canipe*.
*Contact information is available in the Church Directory
