Church spreads word: Its library is open for anyone to use

On Monday mornings, you’ll find DeAnn Corcoran in the library, shelving books, checking others out, adding new volumes to the inventory and offering suggestions to those who know they like mysteries, for example, but want to sample a new author.

In other words, she does what every librarian has done since the first libraries in the United States opened in the 1700s.

But there’s a twist. Corcoran volunteers her time at the library, no salary for her.

And the library where she devotes her time is located inside a church.

Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, across 33rd Street from Augustana University, has housed a library within its walls since the early 1960s. In recent weeks, however, a conscious effort has begun to spread the word that it’s not open to church members only but to the community also.

Anyone is welcome to visit Our Savior’s Library during the 18-plus hours it is open every week.

“It has a positive environment,” Corcoran said. “We’re offering more services. We had a lot before, but we’re doing more things with the community. We’re going to try to do a book festival. And how many women do you know that are in a book group? Sometimes, their houses are too small, and we can offer a different venue.”

Kristie Schreck, who has been the Our Savior’s library coordinator since August, is a retired public school librarian.  When she first walked into the church’s library, Schreck saw a space she calls magnificent, and she’s excited about the possibilities that await.

“I’m amazed at what they’ve done and how they’ve kept it relevant,” she said. “It’s always been a community library, but now there’s a Facebook page set up just for the library,and I can highlight things.”

Our Savior’s has relationships with a preschool and a secular private school, so children are frequent visitors to the library. Schreck also is also looking for authors she can bring into the library.

The church realizes it has “a gold mine” in having such an extensive library and is interested in spreading the word. It now has a sign on an exterior window and plans to increase the signage, both with letters on the brick building and stand-alone signs that direct visitors to the church’s offices.

A grant from the Rita and Bob Elmen Foundation, longtime Our Savior’s members, is earmarked for the library. Other funds are raised through an annual book sale. The literary festival planned for next April will include a reception to honor the late couple’s faithful contributions.

Schreck also sees advantages in strengthening the bonds with its neighbor, Augustana University.

“There’s so much potential there,” Schreck said. “We’re interested right now in bringing people through the doors.”

Jana Keller has walked through those doors for years. She lives near Our Savior’s and took advantage of having a quiet place nearby to read and gather.

“I took my son when he was little, and now he’s 24,” Keller said.

She also has a more recent connection to the facility that she calls “a little pearl, a hidden little gem that when you find it, you want to share with others.” Keller was hired as an assistant to library coordinator Deb Merxbauer in 2020. When Merxbauer died in 2021, Keller filled in as interim library coordinator.

That was as COVID was subsiding, and the church knew it needed to remarket its library.

“Our patrons felt surprised when they learned they didn’t have to be members,” Keller said. “They’re surprised at the size, at how welcoming the library is, at the kind of books we have to offer. People hear ‘church library’ and they think of a musty old church basement library, and we’re very far from that.”

Patrons sometimes ask Schreck where to find “the Christian books,” but the books are mingled alphabetically by authors, with Kristin Hannah nestled close to James Patterson. Books by Michelle Obama, Nelson Mandela, Donald Trump and Joe Biden coexist peaceably, and, of course, there’s a set of Martin Luther’s works.

Seasonal books have their own shelves, and there are board books for toddlers, and DVDs and Blu-ray Discs for children and adults. The church runs a book club, selecting the books months in advance, giving readers a chance to pick and choose which sessions they want to participate in.

When Keller was librarian, she made an effort to expand the library’s graphic novels.

“They can get a bad rap, but anything that gets kids to read is good,” she said. “There’s a leaf canopy they can sit under and have the area to themselves.”

Sometimes, library patrons just need human contact.

“Sometimes, they want a listener, and we provide that too,” Corcoran said.

All a prospective patron needs to check out a book is to provide their name, phone number and an email address. Like any library, sometimes books can be checked out past their due date, Schreck said. There is no charge, but sometimes people insist on paying for a lost book, she said.

That attitude is one reason Schreck said  she has loved every single second she has worked at Our Savior’s Library.

“It feels like a community,” she said. “It’s the peace, the serenity, the calm, the friendliness.”