Lectern

A lectern is a block used to display and read written books from. It also serves as a librarian's job site block.

Obtaining[]

Natural generation[]

Empty lecterns can generate naturally in village libraries, up to two for some library variants.

One lectern generates as part of each ancient city, in the secret room at the city center.

Breaking[]

Lecterns can be broken with any tool, but an axe is the fastest. Lecterns drop themselves and the book they are holding.

Block	Lectern
Hardness	2.5
Tool
Breaking time[A]
Default	3.75
Wooden	1.9
Stone	0.95
Iron	0.65
Diamond	0.5
Netherite	0.45
Golden	0.35

Crafting[]

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Any wood Slab + Bookshelf

Usage[]

Lecterns are the job site block of librarian villagers.

Librarian villagers do not place books into lecterns. They only stare at the lectern from less than a block away as "working".

Holding books[]

Lecterns can also hold a single book and quill or written book that other players can read at the same time. Right-clicking an empty one with a book and quill or written book places it. Right-clicking a lectern with a book already occupied opens an interface to read the book. Books occupying a lectern can be retrieved through the interface,‌^{[Java Edition only]} punching the lectern‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} or by destroying the lectern, even when /gamerule doTileDrops is false.

Lecterns cannot hold enchanted books or normal books. Instead, right clicking the lectern with an enchanted book or a normal book does nothing and the book won't be placed.

Changing profession[]

If a village has a lectern that has not been claimed by a villager, any villager has a chance to change their profession into librarian if that villager has not already chosen a job site block.

Redstone signal[]

Lecterns holding a book emit a full-strength redstone pulse that is one game tick long (0.5 redstone ticks) when a page is turned. A redstone comparator also records book reading and sends a signal, depending on what page the player is currently on. Because Bedrock Edition displays two pages of the book at once, the same signal strength increments require double the number of pages.

For Java Edition a book with only 1 page gives maximum signal strength, however page 1 always gives 1 signal strength if the book contains at least 2 pages.

Due to this, to calculate the signal strength ${\displaystyle S}$ of books with more than 1 page, use the following formula:

${\displaystyle S = \left\lfloor 1 + \frac{14(P-1)}{M-1} \right\rfloor}$

Where ${\displaystyle \lfloor \, \rfloor}$ is the "floor" operation (round down), ${\displaystyle M}$ is the maximum number of pages the book on the lectern has, and ${\displaystyle P}$ is the current page number the lectern is turned to.

This is most noticeable when a book has 2 pages where the signal strength is either 1 on page 1 or 15 on page 2.

A book that would step up or down in increments of 1 per page would be 15 pages long.

For Bedrock Edition the formula is slightly different. Due to Bedrock Edition showing 2 pages at once and counting a change to the book's output only if the highest even numbered page contains information, a redstone comparator treats books with 3 pages the same as those with 1 or 2 pages of information, the same as how Java Edition would treat a book with just 1 page.

For 4 or more pages of information use the following formula to calculate signal strength.

${\displaystyle S = \left\lfloor 1 + \frac{14(P'-1)}{M'-1} \right\rfloor}$

In this case ${\displaystyle M'}$ is half of the maximum page number rounded down, and ${\displaystyle P'}$ is half of the current highest page number containing data displayed on the book interface, rounded down.

Rounding down is required to eliminate the discrepancy caused by books containing an odd number of pages. For example, a book with 8 pages gives a signal strength of 15 when looking at pages 7-8. A book with 9 pages has a signal strength of 15 when looking at either pages 7-8 and 9-10.

In Bedrock Edition, a book that steps up or down in increments of 1 per page turned must be exactly 30 pages long, with information left on page 30.

Fuel[]

Lecterns can be used as fuel in furnaces to smelt 1.5 items.

Note Blocks[]

Lecterns can be placed under note blocks to produce "bass" sound.

Sounds[]

Generic[]

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.wood.break	subtitles.block.generic.break	1.0	0.8	16
	Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.wood.place	subtitles.block.generic.place	1.0	0.8	16
	Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.wood.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit	0.25	0.5	16
	None[sound 1]	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.wood.fall	None[sound 1]	0.5	0.75	16
	Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.wood.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.wood	1.0	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	When the block is placed	dig.wood	1.0	0.8
	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.wood	0.23	0.5
	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.wood	0.4	1.0
	Players	Walking on the block	step.wood	0.3	1.0
	Players	Jumping from the block	jump.wood	0.12	1.0
	Players	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.wood	0.18	1.0

Unique[]

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Page rustles	Master Volume	When the page of a book is turned	item.book.page_turn	subtitles.item.book.page_turn	2.0	0.9-1.0	16
	Book thumps	Blocks	When a book is placed on a lectern	item.book.put	subtitles.item.book.put	1.0	1.0	16
	Librarian works	Friendly Creatures	Randomly while a librarian is working	entity.villager.work_librarian	subtitles.entity.villager.work_librarian	2.0	0.8-1.2	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Sound	When the page of a book is turned	item.book.page_turn	2.0	1.0
	Blocks	When a book is placed on a lectern	item.book.put	4.8	1.0
	Blocks	Randomly while a librarian is working	item.book.put	4.8	1.0

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Translation key
Lectern	lectern	Block & Item	block.minecraft.lectern

Name	Identifier
Block entity	lectern

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Translation key
Lectern	lectern	449	Block & Giveable Item[i 2]	Identical[i 3]	tile.lectern.name

Name	Savegame ID
Block entity	Lectern

Block states[]

Java Edition:

Name	Default value	Allowed values	Description
facing	north	east north south west	The direction the lectern is facing. The opposite from the direction the player faces while placing the lectern.
has_book	false	false true	If the lectern currently has a book.
powered	false	false true	If the lectern is currently outputting a redstone signal.

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Metadata Bits	Default value	Allowed values	Values for Metadata Bits	Description
direction (Deprecated)	0x1 0x2	0	0 1 2 3	0 1 2 3	The direction the lectern is facing. 0: South facing 1: West facing 2: North facing 3: East facing
minecraft:cardinal_direction	Not Supported	south	east north south west	Unsupported	The direction the lectern is facing. The opposite from the direction the player faces while placing the lectern.
powered_bit	0x4	false	false true	0 1	If the lectern is currently outputting a redstone signal.

Block data[]

A lectern has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Block entity format.

History[]

Java Edition
August 18, 2012					The lectern was an old project of Dinnerbone's. It was meant to be a stand for written books, so they could be easily read. He was well on his way to creating it when he encountered problems and scrapped the idea, but mentioned that he might pick up work on the lectern in the near future.
December 18, 2013					Dinnerbone states in his Reddit AMA that he has revisited lecterns, but scrapped them again as "something about them just didn't feel right".
October 18, 2018					Dinnerbone reveals that the lectern is once again in development.
1.14		18w44a			Added lecterns.
					Lecterns are currently obtainable only from the creative inventory and have no functionality.
					Lecterns currently have a BookItem field, which holds the book item to be displayed. However, this field cannot be set and is not written to the block entity.
					There is a file lectern.png which has each texture of the lectern on a large sheet. However, this is unused, as separate files are also present.
		18w45a			The inventory icon of lecterns has been slightly changed from to .
					Removed the unused lectern.png file.
					The texture of lecterns has now been changed.
					The bottom texture of lecterns has been changed from to .
		18w47a			The bottom texture of lecterns has been changed, once again.
		18w48a			Lecterns now generate in the updated plains villages.
		18w49a			Lecterns now generate in the updated savanna villages and the new snowy tundra villages.
		18w50a			Lecterns now generate in the updated desert and taiga villages.
		19w02a			Lecterns now have a crafting recipe.
					Lecterns can now be used to hold books.
					Lecterns now emit a redstone pulse when a page is changed.
					Lecterns now use the correct cullface argument for its bottom face.
		?			Lecterns now use some corrected side cullface arguments for the front and back of their base plate.
		19w03a			Certain blocks can no longer be supported by the top of a lectern.[1]
		19w03c			Lecterns now use correct cullface arguments on the left and right hand side of their base plate.
		19w11a			Lecterns now serve as librarian villagers' job site block.
1.17		21w08a			Lectern position within the Redstone tab has been moved out of the "essential" group in the creative inventory.
		21w11a			Tweaked the lectern model.
1.18		Pre-release 5			The base texture of lectern has now been changed.
1.19		22w13a			Lecterns now generate as part of ancient cities.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			Added lecterns.
1.11.0		beta 1.11.0.1			Lecterns now emit a redstone pulse when a page is turned.
1.20.30		beta 1.20.30.20			Lecterns now use the minecraft:cardinal_direction block state instead of direction.
PlayStation 4 Edition
1.90					Added lecterns.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Lectern" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Gallery[]

Renders[]

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Screenshots[]

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  One of the two first images of the lectern.

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  The second of the first images of the lectern.

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  The first image of a modern lectern.^[2]

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  A lectern holding a book and quill.

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  Sunny using a lectern.

References[]