Lectern

Lectern

Type	?
Physics	No
Transparency	No
Luminance	No
Blast resistance	?
Hardness	2.5
Tool
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Flammable	No
Drops	Itself
Block Entity ID	lectern
Name	lectern

A lectern is a block found in villages, and is used to hold books for multiple players to read in multiplayer.

Obtaining

Lecterns can be broken with any tool, but an axe mines it the fastest.

Crafting

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Any Wood Slab + Bookshelf

Natural generation

Lecterns can generate in village libraries.

Usage

Lecterns are used for holding book and quills that other players can read at the same time. To use a lectern, right-click an empty one with a book and quill to place a book on the lectern. Then, right click on the book to open and read it - multiple players can read the book simultaneously. The book can be removed from the lectern after placing it down. A player can either put a written book and quill or a unfinished one on a lectern.

Redstone signal

Lecterns holding a book will emit a redstone pulse when a page is turned. A redstone comparator will also record book reading and send a signal, depending on what page the player is currently on. (e.g a book with 15 pages will power 1 redstone level per page, or one with 5 pages will emit 3 signal strength per page.)‌^{[Java Edition only]}

Changing profession

If a village has a lectern and there is no librarian villager, any villager has a chance to change their profession into a librarian if those villagers have not already picked a workstation.‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]}‌^{[upcoming: BE 1.10]}

Fuel

Lectern can be used as fuel in furnace to smelt 1.5 items.

Data values

Block states

See also: Block states

Name	Value	Description
facing	east north south west	The direction the lectern is facing. Opposite from the direction the player faces when placing a lectern.
has_book	false true	If the lectern currently has a book.
powered	false true	If the lectern is currently outputting a redstone signal.

Block entity

See also: Block entity format

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

• Block entity data
  • Tags common to all block entities see Template:Nbt inherit/blockentity/template
  •  Book: The book item, without the slot tag, currently on the lectern, may not exist.
    • Tags common to all items see Template:Nbt inherit/itemnoslot/template
  •  Page: The page the book is currently on, starting from 0, does not exist if there's no book.

History

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.
Upcoming Java Edition
1.14			18w44a		Added lecterns. Old texture delayed lectern was replaced on
					Lecterns are currently only obtainable 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.
			18w48a		Lecterns can now generate in plains village libraries
			18w49a		Lecterns now can also generate in savanna and snowy tundra village libraries.
			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.
			19w03a		Certain blocks can no longer be supported by the top of a lectern.
					Lectern now uses some corrected side cullface arguments.[needs testing]
			19w03c		The lectern now uses correct cullface arguments on its remaining sides.[needs testing]
Upcoming Bedrock Edition
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3		Added lecterns.

Issues

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

Gallery

• 

  One of the two first images of the lectern.

• 

  The second of the first images of the lectern.

• 

  The new lectern that was recently added.

• 

  A lectern holding a book and quill

• 

  Lectern holding a book shown from above.

References

Redstone

View at: Template:Redstone/content [edit]

Blocks

View at: Template:Blocks/content [edit]