Lectern

Lectern

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition

Java Edition

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Item description‌[BE only]	Display books
Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tool
Blast resistance	2.5
Hardness	2.5
Luminous	No
Transparent	JE: No BE: Yes
Waterloggable	JE: No BE: Yes
Flammable	Yes (30)
Catches fire from lava	Yes
Map color	13 WOOD
Note block instrument	Bass

A lectern is a block used to display a book and quill or written book for reading. Turning a page triggers a redstone pulse. It also serves as a librarian's job site block.

Obtaining

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 (sec)[A]
Default	13.75 (JE) 3.75 (BE)
Wooden	11.9 (JE) 1.9 (BE)
Stone	10.95 (JE) 0.95 (BE)
Copper	10.75 (JE) 0.75 (BE)
Iron	10.65 (JE) 0.65 (BE)
Diamond	10.5 (JE) 0.5 (BE)
Netherite	10.45 (JE) 0.45 (BE)
Golden	10.35 (JE) 0.35 (BE)
Options
Efficiency	000
Haste	001 1JEBE

Legend

• incorrect tool, drops nothing
• correct tool, drops nothing or something other than the block itself
• correct tool, drops the block itself
• italicized can be instant mined

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.

Crafting

Ingredients	Crafting recipe
Any Wooden 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 lectern with a book and quill or written book places it. Right-clicking a lectern that already has a book opens an interface to read the book. Books occupying a lectern can be retrieved through the interface,‌^{[Java Edition only]} by punching the lectern,‌^{[Bedrock Edition only]} or by destroying the lectern, even when the block_drops‌^{[JE only]} or dotiledrops‌^{[BE only]} game rule 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.

Profession

If a lectern has not been claimed by a villager, any nearby unemployed villager (excluding nitwits) has a chance to change its profession to librarian and claim the lectern as its job site block.

Redstone signal

Lecterns holding a book emit a full-strength redstone pulse that is 2 game ticks long 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. Since Bedrock Edition displays two pages of the book at once, the same signal strength increments require double the number of pages.

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.

To calculate the signal strength of a book with more than 1 page, use the following formula:

Where is the "floor" operation (round down), is the maximum number of pages the book on the lectern has, and 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 signal strength up or down in increments of 1 per page would be 15 pages long.

The following Python program prints all possible pairs of two values to achieve a certain signal strength, with the first being the page number to be on and the second being the total number of pages.

import math

S = int(input('Enter the target signal strength: '))  # Desired signal strength (1-15)
P = 1  # Actual page number
M = 2  # Max page number

while M < 25:
    while S != math.floor(1 + ((14 * (P - 1)) / (M - 1))):  # Strength formula
        if P == M:
            M += 1
            P = 0
        P += 1

    print('Possible combination (P / M):', P, "/", M)
    P += 1

Bedrock Edition

Odd pages are not taken into account by the game when calculating the comparator output of a book; for example, a book with 9 pages has a signal strength of 15 when looking at either pages 7-8 or page 9. Books with 3 pages are treated the same as those with 1 or 2 pages (the same as how Java Edition would treat a book with just 1 page).

For books that are longer than 1 page, use the following formula to calculate the signal strength:

In this case is the total amount of pages, if it's even—otherwise the total amount of pages minus one should be used instead. is the number of the right page currently displayed on the book interface, if available—otherwise the number of the left page minus one should be used instead.

A book that steps signal strength up or down in increments of 1 per page turned must be exactly 30 pages long.

Fuel

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

Sounds

Generic

Java Edition:

wood sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	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​[until: JE 26.4]	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
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.wood.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	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:

wood sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	dig.wood	subtitles.block.generic.break​	1.0	0.8–1.0
	​Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	place.wood	subtitles.block.generic.place​	1.0	0.8
	​Axe strips	Blocks	When an axe strips a log or wood block [sound 1]	use.wood	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	1.0	0.8
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	hit.wood	subtitles.block.generic.hit​	0.23	0.5
	​Footsteps	Players	Falling on the block with fall damage	fall.wood	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.4	1.0
	​Footsteps	Players	Walking on the block	step.wood	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.3	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Jumping from the block	jump.wood	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.12	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	land.wood	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.18	1.0

Unique

Java Edition

Bedrock Edition:

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] (Numeric: -194)	tile.lectern.name

Name	Savegame ID
Block entity	Lectern

Block states

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

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

Development and announcement

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.

Java Edition

Java Edition
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			pre5				The base texture of lectern has now been changed.
1.19			22w13a				Lecterns now generate as part of ancient cities.

Bedrock Edition

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.
1.18.10			beta 1.18.10.22				The base texture for lecterns has been changed.
1.20.30			Preview 1.20.20.21				Increased the hardness and blast resistance of lecterns from 2 to 2.5.

PlayStation 4 Edition

PlayStation 4 Edition
1.90							Added lecterns.
1.91							Lecterns now emit a redstone pulse when a page is turned.
							Lecterns can now be moved by a piston.

Data history

Issues

Issues relating to "Lectern" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Gallery

Renders

Screenshots

• 
  One of the two first images of the lectern
• 
  The second of the first images of the lectern
• 
  The first image of a modern lectern^[2]
• 
  A lectern holding a book and quill
• 
  Sunny using a lectern

In other media

• 
  A lectern as seen in A Minecraft Movie
• 

References

External links

• "Taking Inventory: Lectern" by Duncan Geere – Minecraft.net, November 23, 2023.