Parish Church Libraries
Early parish church libraries were stated to be for the use of local layman and clergy, but the books were not in English, were largely in Latin, and exclusively theological in character. Thomas Bray an Anglican cleric who originally had the idea of the parish library, who wrote in 1697, "An Essay Towards Promoting all Necessary and Useful Knowledge, Both Divine and human, In all the Parts of His Majesty's Dominions, Both at Home and Abroad", wanted the church to acquire books and lend them to the general public as well as the parishioners and clergy. Though the collections were mainly religious, the collection extended to literature and the classics, due to an underlying desire of Bray to guide education in a proper fashion. He also lobbied for public financing, and promoted the circulation of books so that the inhabitants of the parish could take them home.
Some contemporary churches such as St James' Church, Sydney maintain lending libraries on theological and religious subjects for the use of their parishioners.
Read more about this topic: Lending Library
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