How do you make a lectern in Minecraft?

Who this is for: Minecraft players looking to create lecterns for displaying books or building redstone contraptions.


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What You Need to Craft a Lectern

Making a lectern in Minecraft requires just two materials: 4 wooden slabs and 1 bookshelf. You can use any type of wooden slab – oak, birch, spruce, jungle, acacia, dark oak, mangrove, cherry, bamboo, crimson, or warped slabs all work perfectly.

Step-by-Step Crafting Process

Open your crafting table and arrange the materials in this specific pattern:

  • Top row: Place 1 wooden slab in the first slot, 1 bookshelf in the middle slot, 1 wooden slab in the third slot
  • Middle row: Leave completely empty
  • Bottom row: Place 1 wooden slab in the first slot, leave middle empty, 1 wooden slab in the third slot

This creates a pattern where the bookshelf sits at the top center, surrounded by slabs in a specific formation that resembles the lectern’s structure.

How to Get the Required Materials

If you don’t have wooden slabs, craft them by placing 3 wooden planks horizontally in your crafting grid – this gives you 6 slabs. For the bookshelf, you’ll need 6 wooden planks and 3 books. Books are made from 3 paper and 1 leather, where paper comes from 3 sugar cane arranged horizontally.

What Lecterns Do in Minecraft

Once crafted, lecterns serve multiple important functions. They hold books and quills or written books, allowing other players to read them without taking the book away. Lecterns also emit a redstone signal when a book is placed on them, making them useful for redstone contraptions. The signal strength changes based on which page readers are viewing, creating possibilities for complex redstone builds.

Placement and Usage Tips

Lecterns can be placed on any solid block and will face toward you when positioned. Right-click to place a book, then right-click again to open and read it. Multiple players can read the same book simultaneously, and the lectern will show which page each reader is viewing through its redstone output.

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TL;DR

Craft a lectern using 4 wooden slabs and 1 bookshelf arranged in a specific pattern on your crafting table. Place slabs in corners and top-middle, with the bookshelf in the center-top position.

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Joyst1ck

Gaming Writer & HTML5 Developer

Answering gaming questions—from Roblox and Minecraft to the latest indie hits. I write developer‑focused HTML5 articles and share practical tips on game design, monetisation, and scripting.

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