Guidance for meeting librarians
from the Library of the Society of Friends in
Britain
Guide No. 1
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The Job of the Meeting Librarian
The purpose of the meeting library
Have I got what it takes to be a meeting librarian?
The tasks of the meeting librarian
Keeping the library up to date and relevant
Making the library accessible
Taking care of the library
Further advice
This guide gives an overview of the job of the meeting librarian. Other guides
from the Library at Friends House deal in more detail with particular aspects,
and are referred to throughout.
The advice in the guides is general and broad, but we hope adequate to help
the meeting librarian set up the most basic systems and procedures for
running the meeting library, should they not be in place already, and to make it
clear why certain procedures are necessary.
1.
The purpose of the meeting library
The original purpose of meeting house libraries was the education of members
in the understanding and exposition of Quaker doctrine, and the defence of
Quakerism against attack and misrepresentation. By the end of the 19th
century they were also providing materials for a better grounding in the
fundamentals of Christian belief and religious knowledge generally.
Christian practice (1925) emphasised that “Our Quaker meeting house
libraries are an important means whereby the best…literature may always be
made available to all our members and those associated with us, many of
whom cannot spend much upon books. Those who are responsible for these
libraries are urged to keep them well provided with the best modern religious
literature and to encourage their use.”
The guidance on meeting libraries in the present edition of Quaker faith &
practice (4th edition, 2009) is worth quoting in full:
Librarians and Libraries
13.41
Area meetings are required to keep under review the maintenance and
use of libraries in local meetings (see 4.10r); they should encourage
any meetings which do not have their own library to establish one. The
running of the library, however, remains the responsibility of the local
meeting. Most local meetings appoint a librarian, who will need the
support of the meeting and a budget for the purchase of books. In
some meetings this task is shared by a number of Friends. Some area
meetings draw their librarians together from time to time to share their
experience. Help and advice are also available from the Library
Committee of Quaker Life.
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A well-stocked and organised library is a powerful aid to the life of the
meeting and its outreach. The books can represent a resource for
learning about the Religious Society of Friends, about Christianity, the
Bible, other world faiths and the social issues of our day. New books
can stimulate and challenge as we continue our religious education.
Librarians will find many ways of making the books within their library
accessible to Friends and attenders. Some meetings publish reading
lists and reviews of recently acquired books in their newsletters. Others
will introduce new acquisitions at a local meeting for church affairs or in
the notices after meeting for worship. The librarian should be familiar
with the contents of the library and be prepared to offer
recommendations to those wanting to use it. Book boxes can be
obtained from the Quaker Bookshop at Friends House and are a good
way of encouraging Friends to enlarge their reading. Other resources
than books are available and useful, and librarians may wish to
consider including these.
Where there are physical limitations, such as when meeting for
worship is held in rented accommodation, imagination and a
determination to share our discoveries of helpful books will suggest
ways in which the problems may be alleviated.
2.
Have I got what it takes to be a meeting
librarian?
The meeting library does not stand alone, and ideally the librarian should be in
touch with the meeting’s various activities. A librarian does not, as is
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sometimes supposed, have to be a great reader, but it is important to have an
interest in books, to enjoy reading and encouraging reading in others. You do
not need to know a great deal about librarianship, but you need to be
systematic and accurate. Generally there will, one hopes, be a system in
place, which you will be shown by the outgoing librarian.
Some meetings may have either a job description or terms of reference for the
meeting librarian that make clear their duties and responsibilities.
In a larger meeting, the librarian should find valuable support from a library
committee, appointed by the local meeting, and able to offer advice (and
ideally, some practical help). In some area meetings, meeting librarians and
members of local meeting library committees have found it useful to meet
together once a year.
3.
The tasks of the meeting librarian
The librarian’s responsibilities could be said to fall naturally into three parts,
which will be briefly described in the following paragraphs. They can be
summarised as:
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Keeping the library up to date and relevant
Making the library accessible
Taking care of the library
But the way these responsibilities are carried out will vary enormously
depending on whether the meeting is a small one, perhaps without its own
premises, or a large, well-established one.
4.
Keeping the library up to date and relevant
There are two aspects to this: adding new books and weeding out unused or
superseded books. It’s a good idea to write an acquisitions policy (sometimes
called a collection policy) on what subjects and types of books will be included
in the library. This will help you decide what to add and what to weed out.
Adding new books
Most meetings provide money on a regular basis to buy new books for the
library. In some meetings the librarian can request money as and when there
are books they want to buy, and others agree an annual budget.
There are several ways of selecting books, such as reading reviews and
publishers’ information about new books, browsing bookshops, and
suggestions from Friends in the meeting.
The majority of books of Quaker interest can be purchased from the Quaker
Centre Bookshop at Friends House. It is easiest to select books suitable for
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your meeting if you can actually see a good range and browse through them.
Larger meetings which have substantial library budgets may buy more general
religious books and books about peace issues, social problems and so on.
These may be bought from any local bookshop.
Meeting librarians often receive offers of donations from members. While
these are often very welcome, the librarian needs to be able to decline gifts of
books if they are out of date, irrelevant to the library’s purpose as a meeting
library, or if they would just not be read.
For further guidance on budgets, selecting and buying books see Guide 2
Selection and acquisition of stock.
Weeding out superseded or unused books
This does not necessarily need to be a regular event. A book can be removed
whenever you notice that it is dated or otherwise unwanted; or a review of the
whole stock may become necessary because space is running out. But the
library will obviously be more attractive if most books are seen to be relatively
recent and in good condition. Discards could be offered to members, or to
other libraries or charity shops, or sold, depending on saleability, value, etc.
For advice on withdrawing and disposing of books see Guide 5 Disposing of
unwanted books.
Keeping records of new acquisitions and accessions
A record should be kept of new purchases and may be needed for auditing
purposes. Ideally an accessions register should be kept which records when
each book was acquired, and gives a unique number to each book, which
should also be written into the book. It is probably easier to record other
purchase details, such as price in the accessions register too.
Guide 2 gives further guidance on recording new acquisitions.
A record should also be kept of books that have been withdrawn from the
library, and some note on how they have been disposed of. Guide 5 provides
further advice and explanation of why it is important to keep such a record.
5.
Making the library accessible
The first stage is to maintain a list or catalogue of the contents of the library,
and devise some principle for arranging the books on the shelves: these are
basic necessities for any library. Then comes encouraging use and having a
system to record book loans. The need for simplicity in arrangements must
always be borne in mind. Your users will be put off if they have to spend a lot
of time learning how the system works.
Catalogues
Every library should have at least a basic catalogue. It will enable users to find
a book by author, or by title, and tell them where to find it in the library.
Traditionally, if there is only one entry, it is under author, as this keeps the
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works of one author together. The usefulness of the catalogue will be
enhanced if users can also search under subject.
Most meetings maintain a catalogue on cards, which is easy to add to.
Increasingly computers are being used, either to keep a list, spreadsheet or
database. If the catalogue is kept on a computer, then make sure that it is
backed up regularly, either onto a CD or a memory stick.
Shelf arrangement
Most meeting libraries use a home-made categorisation scheme to arrange
books on the shelves, with sections such as Bible, History of Quakerism,
Biography, Other religions and so on. Books will need to be labelled – usually
near the bottom of the spine – for quick identification of their position.
For some examples of categorisation schemes used by meeting libraries and
information about cataloguing, see Guide 3 Cataloguing and arranging the
meeting library.
Encouraging use
Encouraging Friends to use the library can be done in a variety of ways. At
the very least most meetings will have a notice board where a list of new
books can be displayed. Some meetings may be lucky enough to have display
shelving in addition to the storage shelving so that some books can be
displayed face out. Quaker faith & practice mentions that some meetings
publish reading lists or reviews of recently acquired books, and others
introduce new books at local business meeting or during notices after meeting
for worship; also that the librarian should be prepared to make
recommendations to those wanting to use the library. But some librarians go
further in encouraging use. They may, for instance, ask someone to read and
speak about a particular new book; get a group to read and discuss
something; encourage involvement in book selection; set up displays of new
or topical books, and so on. Attention should be paid to the way the library
looks – tidy shelves with up to date books that are in good condition will look
attractive and tempt Friends to browse and borrow books.
Lending books
An issue system will be needed that will keep track of who has what book, and
when they borrowed it. Most meetings use a simple system whereby the
borrower writes his or her name, the details of the book, and the date of
borrowing (and, later, date of return), in an exercise book or something similar.
A formal loan period may not be imposed but if it should be, then four weeks is
about right. As a rule, Quaker libraries are not so formal as to charge fines for
late return, but Friends should be reminded if they have not returned a book
after several weeks.
6.
Taking care of the Library
This includes properly storing the books where Friends can easily access
them. But if the meeting house is used by others, then it is advisable to keep
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them somewhere safe and secure when Friends are not present. This is
especially advised if you have a collection of older books.
Books should be kept on suitable shelving, and regardless of whether they are
old or modern, in an environment that is stable, clean and free from damp and
direct sunlight. Keeping the shelves tidy is also a good way of checking if any
books need repairing.
If there are old books in the collection, say pre-1900, they may also need
some physical attention. Basic remedies, such as tying damaged books with
cotton tape can be done by the librarian, but other repairs should be left to a
specialist book conservator, if the meeting can afford it and the book is worth
it. If you have very old and valuable items, it may be best to keep them
separate from the general collection but accessible so that they can still be
used by Friends.
7.
Further advice
For further advice on meeting libraries you can either write to the Library at
Friends House, Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ, telephone 020 7663 1135 or
send an email to library@quaker.org.uk
There is also an internet discussion group for Quaker Meeting Librarians. To
join the group go to http://lists.quaker.eu.org/mailman/listinfo/librarians or send
an email to librarians-owner@lists.quaker.eu.org
Other leaflets in this series
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
The Job of the Meeting Librarian
Selection and acquisition of stock
Cataloguing and arranging the meeting library
Equipment for a meeting library
Disposing of unwanted books
Caring for your books
Promoting the meeting library
Web resources for meeting librarians
Disaster preparedness : guidance for meeting librarians, clerks and
custodians of records (Guides for custodians of records, no. 10)
All can be downloaded from the Library’s Support for Meetings webpages at
http://www.quaker.org.uk/meeting-librarians or requested from the Library.
January 2013
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