Decatur’s Eva Nell Hunter reaches community, world with library ministry

Eva Nell Hunter retired 20 years ago. After a busy career of teaching and working as a school administrator, it was time to slow down. But instead of slowing down, she began a second career that keeps her busy full time and has allowed her to have a hand in shaping church libraries across the world.
   
Hunter is full-time volunteer library director at Central Baptist Church, Decatur. Even before she retired from education, she had an interest in Central’s library, volunteering there for all but 15 months of the last 47 years.
   
During those 15 months, she and her husband lived in Syracuse, N.Y., while he worked on a graduate degree.
   
Since retiring, she has not only expanded her work with Central’s library, but she has also become a consultant for LifeWay Christian Resources, serving as one of four church library national specialists. Morlee Maynard, ministry specialist, ministry teams and church library ministry for LifeWay, described Hunter’s role.
“Everything I do with church library ministry is done with the four church library national specialists,” Maynard said. “Eva Nell plays a significant role in this team.”
   
Maynard frequently calls on Hunter for help in training others.
   
“She is one of our most popular church library trainers. She will be featured at both Ridgecrest and Glorieta (LifeWay’s retreat centers) this summer,” Maynard noted.
   
In addition to training at conferences, Hunter has also helped start or computerize libraries in Brazil, the Philippines, Austria, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and across the United States.
   
Hunter is co-author of “Church Library Ministry Information Service,” to be published in June 2004 by Broadman & Holman. She is also revising “A Classification System for Church Libraries,” a LifeWay resource.
   
Hunter’s library at Central is fully computerized and as well-equipped as many public libraries, offering a large selection of books, audiocassettes, videocassettes and DVDs.
   
The entire collection is online, where a potential patron can search to determine whether the library has a book or if the book is available and then reserve it, all from a home computer.
   
Adding about 500 titles per year, Hunter adheres to a clear selection policy that requires library materials to be morally sound; accurate in facts, scriptural interpretation and doctrine; and of high literary and technical quality.
   
The library tries to provide the latest best sellers in religious areas. Hunter especially likes biographies for adults and juveniles.
   
“We want all of our books to be uplifting. I believe that people become like those they read about, so I try to offer good role models,” Hunter said.
   
The library staff, in addition to Hunter, consists of one paid assistant and 20 volunteers.
   
Under Hunter’s leadership, the library has extended its mission, becoming the supply center for the entire church and ordering all materials for all departments.
   
An inventory of the resource section of the library reveals multiple copies of almost every item a Sunday School, VBS or Mother’s Day Out teacher could wish for, all neatly stored. The library offers spiral binding, laminating and die cut machines with dozens of templates.
  
For the last four years, library volunteers have used the five die cut machines for a missions project, cutting shapes related to each year’s VBS theme and sending them to churches free of charge. This year, the library has sent out more than 700 packets of 30 cutouts and more than 2,000 individual cutouts.
   
The service is advertised on the LifeWay Vacation Bible School Web site and is free to any church on request.
   
“Our goal is to reach out to small churches,” said Hunter. “It is our ministry. We sometimes get checks from people, but we always return them.”
   
The resources of the library are not reserved for members of Central. The library is dedicated to outreach, welcoming anyone who wants to use the facility. Open from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on weekdays, the library has patrons who drive to Decatur from across the region.
   
“We have almost every denomination using the library,” Hunter said. “Some of them drive in from as far as 20 to 25 miles.”
   
Many homeschoolers use the library. Hunter pointed out that a church library is the only place where parents can be assured that any book a child chooses will be acceptable.
   
“My philosophy in putting things in the library is like the old rule of the comma,” said Hunter. “When in doubt, leave it out.”
   
Asked if it was difficult to keep up with materials checked out by nonmembers, Hunter smiled broadly.
   
“I had a deacon ask me that once. I looked him in the eye and told him that I wished our own people were as conscientious about bringing things back, paying for damages and donating materials as they are. It has not been a problem. In fact, it has enhanced our program,” she said.
   
Hunter believes libraries are here to stay, in spite of advancing technology.
   
“I’ve heard it said that libraries are going out of business. There’s no way. There’s no way that reading will ever go away. I am seeing more adults reading than ever before,” Hunter said.
   
Twenty years into retirement, Hunter shows no signs of slowing down or losing her enthusiasm for her second career.
   
“I don’t know how much longer I can do this, but as long as the Lord gives me the health and the enthusiasm for what I do, I’m going to keep doing it,” she said.