The Liminal Librarian

After posting about church signs, I thought a little more about religion's lessons for getting people passionately involved and engaged. Recently, I received a sample issue of off our backs in the mail, which happened to focus on women and fundamentalism. One of the articles talked about "the allure of the Religious Right" for women as other support networks have crumbled:

Enter the Religious Right with an array of services and support that could no longer be found elsewhere. For struggling families, the support churches offered was an oasis in the desert, everything from home-cooked meals delivered to women and their families after a new child was born to free maternity clothes, baby clothes, and furniture, a supportive community of willing babysitters, women's gatherings during the week, book discussion groups, men's and women's aerobics, food and clothes bank programs, weekly meetings in homes for Bible study and "fellowship," men's basketball and softball teams, choirs, worship orchestras, child and adult musical and drama presentations and "living Christmas tree" projects, grief support, and a host of programs for people of all ages. Best of all? It was all free....This level of support in a society lacking even minimal support for young families can be hard to resist.

(I also have Jesus Camp sitting in my Netflix queue, which promises to be interesting.)

We talk so much about how libraries build communities, about how we provide essential services, about how we bridge the digital divide and create programming for all ages -- and do it all for free. Yeah, we lack the religion hook, but I've seen in oob and elsewhere plenty of discussion about the fact that what originally hooks people in is this sense of community and support they find lacking in other parts of their daily lives.

Looking at the ways in which churches and other organizations have stepped in to fill these gaps might well give us insight into both the need for community, in what ways people most need support. It's worth thinking about what libraries' and librarians' role may be, with these issues in mind.

Labels: churches, community, involvement, oob, religion, right, services