The Big Idea
What is the best use of a church library and the books it holds?
If you ask most people the purpose seems to be something along these lines:
- Let people check stuff out like a public library.
- Archive Church history
Luther’s advise on furnishing a Library:
What Luther Says, Vol 1. p. 110.
My advice is not to huddle together indiscriminately all sorts of books and to look only to their number and quantity. I would make a selection of books. There is no need of collecting the commentaries of all jurists, the sentences of all theologians, the questions of all philosophers, and the sermons of all monks. In fact, I would throw out such dung and furnish my library with the right sort of books, consulting with scholar as to my choice. First of all the library should contain Holy Scripture in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, German, and in whatever other languages it may be available. Then there should be the best and oldest commentators, if I could find them, in Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. Then books that aid us in acquiring the languages, such as the poets, and orators, no matter whether heathen or Christian, Greek or Latin: for these are the books from which one must learn grammar. Then should come books about the liberal arts and all the other arts; and finally also books of law and of medicine, though here, too, a judicious choice of texts is necessary. Among the chief books, however, should be chronicles and histories, in whatever language they may be had, for they are of wonderous value for understanding and guiding the course of the world, and especially for noting the wonderful works of God.
While it may seem like a dumb straightforward question to try and dig deeper into the image that sticks in my mind about libraries is the role of monastic libraries during the dark ages. While the Roman Empire was melting down and the political and economic landscape was changing, monastic libraries emerged as a place of learning and continuity. It offered a stable place to house books and carry them through the many changes generationally.
What if a church library could operate similarly in a very chaotic and ever changing digital and even economic world? What are the kinds of texts resources and information that may not always be easy to find?
Search engines have famously degraded in the quality of their results (need to find sources)
Preservation of History access to material not easily found Not about easy access more about access to things that are important And long term access
Church library as separate from Pastor’s library
Current factors that affect things
a A Holistic versus Mechanistic Perspective what about a perspective focused on life as the foundational activity of God in the world?
Avoidance of Tail Knowledge and Knowledge Collapse Search engine biases AI biases
History of Technology that affects things
printing press - access of printed
broadcast systems - few to the many
social media - many to the many
Instability of technological communication systems DVD and CD era in Church libraries short lived
Not likely to have professional librarians or archivists Generational focus rather than just practical
Things that Church libraries often have
Old out of print books or hymnals Bible study resources and helps History of Church and Lutheranism
The sterilization of history and artifacts as things that belong in museums out of reach
Example of codex sinaiticus being taken from its home and put in a bunch of random museums