Support your local library!

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Library quiz:

• Have you visited your local library recently?
• What sort of books to you borrow?
• Do you ever borrow Christian books from your library?
• Do you find that your library does not stock many suitable Christian books?
• Are you put off because of the other books on the religious classification shelves?
• Do you know how much it costs to order any book from the library service?

As an avid reader of Christian books, I have begun to make use of my local library to meet part of my reading requirements. This makes good sense for a number of reasons.

• Some books are too expensive to afford.
• There are some books that I would like to read, but have no wish to keep a copy for myself.
• If I purchased all the books that I wanted to read, I wouldn't have enough shelf space to store them at home.
• Using the local library helps to create a demand for sound Christian literature to go on the library shelves.
• It doesn't cost much to order any book from the library service. It costs only £1 to fill in a reservation card.
  Considering that some hardback books cost as much as £20 to buy, that is very good value for money!

During the last year I have ordered a number of books from my local library in Bramhall. I have placed orders for both Christian books and ordinary novels and non-fiction works. If the book is not in stock in Bramhall library, they first check to see if any of the other libraries in the Stockport area have copies in stock. Failing that, they may order the book from the British Lending Library in Boston Spa, Wetherby. However, in some cases, depending upon the kind of book ordered, the local library may actually purchase the book so that you can be the first to borrow it!

New titles that Bramhall Library have purchased in order to meet my requests during 1996 include the following:

Christian books:

• The Theology of the Reformers by Timothy George
• The Gagging of God: Christianity confronts Pluralism by Don Carson
• William Tyndale - a biography by David Daniell
• The Jesus Papyrus by Carsten Peter Thiede & Matthew d'Ancona
  

Ordinary books:

• ICON by Frederick Forsyth (a novel set in the Russia of 1999)
• Clear Waters Rising by Nicholas Crane (a travel book - he walked the whole European continental divide)
• Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
• Farewell to the Family [Public Policy & Family Breakdown in the USA & Britain] by Patricia Morgan

How about you? By placing orders for good books through your local library, you can not only benefit yourself, but have the pleasure of knowing that your book order may result in more Christian books becoming available for your local community. Choose books wisely. There are a lot of books which are ostensibly Christian which actually are not very helpful, and in some cases outright misleading and false. Make good use of book reviews in evangelical magazines and journals to help you decide what to read. I find that there are useful book reviews in several of the periodicals and magazines which I subscribe to such as:

• Evangelical Times
• Evangelicals Now
• The Banner of Truth Magazine
• Reformation Today
• Cheadle Parish Magazine

You can help your local library in a similar manner.

David Haslam

This article first appeared during 1996 in Cheadle Parish Magazine.
Page last updated 2001-01-04

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