Overview
A lectern holds a written book and lets anyone read it without taking it, which makes it the natural way to leave instructions, a shop price list, a server rulebook or a story in a build. Place a book and quill or a written book on it and the book stays there until someone sneaks and takes it back. The mechanic that makes it interesting to redstone builders is the comparator output: a lectern emits a signal whose strength corresponds to the page currently open, which means a book turned to a specific page is a hidden switch nobody would think to look for. Turning the page also emits a redstone pulse, so a lectern can act as a manual button that fires whenever a reader moves through the book. It is the librarian villager's job site block, and the librarian is arguably the single most valuable villager in the game because they sell enchanted books, including Mending, which cannot be obtained from an enchanting table at all. Breaking and replacing a lectern beside an unemployed villager rerolls their book offers until the enchantment you want appears.
Displaying a readable book in a build, giving a comparator a page-number output for hidden switches, and acting as the librarian job site block for Mending and other enchanted book trades.
Lectern counts as a functional block in Minecraft 1.21.4. Lectern has a crafting recipe, so it is renewable as long as you can source its ingredients. At a hardness of 2.5 it takes a moment to break but never slows a build down.
Broken correctly, it drops itself. It offers almost no protection from explosions (2.5 blast resistance). A full stack holds 64.
It is crafted from Oak Slab and Bookshelf. Nothing on the crafting grid is made from it.
How to get it
Craft it from 4 wooden slabs and 1 bookshelf, which is 3 books and 6 planks on top of the slabs. Lecterns also generate in village libraries, where a librarian is usually already attached to one.
Tips
- A comparator reads the open page as a signal, so a book left on page 7 makes an invisible combination lock.
- Break and replace the lectern next to an unemployed librarian to reroll their trades until Mending appears.
- Turning a page emits a redstone pulse, which makes a lectern a button disguised as furniture.
- See villager trading and cheap Mending for the full lectern rerolling routine.
How long it takes to break
Lectern has a hardness of 2.5. By hand that is 3.8 seconds per block; with the correct tool at netherite tier it is 0.45 seconds.
Iron manages 0.65 seconds and diamond 0.5, which makes iron the tier that changes how this block feels.
The drop does not depend on the tool — bare hands work as well as anything — so the table below is purely about speed.
Efficiency adds its level squared plus one to the tool speed, so Efficiency V is about 3 times faster than the same tool unenchanted.
| Tool | No enchantment | Efficiency III | Efficiency V |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand | 3.8 s | 3.8 s | 3.8 s |
| Wooden | 1.9 s | 0.35 s | 0.15 s |
| Stone | 0.95 s | 0.3 s | 0.15 s |
| Iron | 0.65 s | 0.25 s | 0.15 s |
| Diamond | 0.5 s | 0.25 s | 0.15 s |
| Netherite | 0.45 s | 0.2 s | 0.15 s |
| Golden | 0.35 s | 0.2 s | 0.1 s |
Properties
With 2.5 blast resistance Lectern goes down to any nearby explosion. It is fully opaque and produces no light. Stack size is 64 — the standard full stack. The fastest tool for it is an axe; any other kind of tool mines it no faster than a bare hand does, because the speed bonus only applies to the tool class the block is tagged for. As furnace fuel it burns for 15 seconds — one and a half smelting operations.
- Transparent
- No
- Required tool
- Any
- Fuel value
- 15 s
Crafting recipe
Crafting Table
Lectern
Any wooden slab — Oak Slab, Spruce Slab, Birch Slab, Jungle Slab, Acacia Slab, Dark Oak Slab, Pale Oak Slab, Crimson Slab, Warped Slab, Mangrove Slab, Bamboo Slab, Cherry Slab
Drops
Mined with any, Lectern drops itself.
Guides and tools that cover this
Frequently asked questions
How do you get Lectern in Minecraft?
Lectern is crafted from Oak Slab and Bookshelf.
What tool do you need to break Lectern?
No specific tool is required — Lectern can be broken by hand.
Is Lectern blast resistant?
Lectern has a blast resistance of 2.5, so an explosion nearby will destroy it.
How many Lectern fit in one stack?
64 per stack, so a double chest holds 3,456 Lectern.
How long does Lectern take to break?
The correct netherite tool clears it in 0.45 seconds. Bare hands take 3.8.
