Minecraft lectern – how to craft and use a lectern

If you’ve been playing Minecraft for a little while, you may be wondering what a Minecraft lectern is. The fantastic little item seems fairly innocuous, but actually holds a lot of depth. Easily craftable once you have some of the more tricky resources, this furniture item holds some secrets that you’ll want to uncover.

This Minecraft lecterns guide breaks down exactly what resources you need, how to find them, and how to use this unique item. It’s a pretty interesting item in Minecraft that holds a bit more purpose than just reading books, so be sure to grab one and get using it with other items like redstone to create some really fun contraptions.

We’re mad for Minecraft at PT Towers, so we’ve put together a series of great guides to help you navigate this often confusing and overwhelming world. Be sure to read our other guides covering Minecraft mobs, the Minecraft ender dragon, Minecraft end portal, Minecraft skins, and the best Minecraft games.

Here’s our Minecraft lectern guide.

Minecraft lectern

How do I craft a Minecraft lectern?

Building a Minecraft lectern is fairly simple, as long as you have some wood and a couple of bookshelves. The main thing you need is wood slabs, which you can make by placing three wood planks across the middle slots on the crafting table. To make a bookshelf, you need wood planks and some books. Using all slots of the crafting table, place wood planks across the bottom three and the top three slots. Next, place books in all three middle slots, and you have yourself a bookshelf.

Now to actually craft the lectern. Place wood planks in the top three slots, and the bottom middle slot. Then place a bookshelf in the middle slot, making a T shape, and you can now craft a lectern! A lectern can hold books for the player to read, and clicking on a lectern with a book places it. This is also a very handy item for one other reason…

How do I use a lectern as a redstone signal?

As well as being able to hold a book and a quill in Minecraft, a lectern also emits a redstone signal. As with many redstone builds, it can be complicated, so we have included a detailed breakdown from Youtube creator xisumavoid below.

We hope this Minecraft lectern guide helped you to unlock some new features and place this lovely little item somewhere in your Minecraft house. If you need even more blocks in your life though, be sure to check out our best Lego gaming sets guide, including some incredible Mario and Minecraft builds.