Lectern is crafted from four wooden slabs above one bookshelf in a U-shape on the crafting grid. The device holds a single written book or written-and-signed book, displayed open on the slanted top. Right-clicking with a book in hand seats it on the device; right-clicking the seated book lets the player read it without picking it up. Multiple players can read simultaneously, each tracking their own page independently.

A secondary use is critical for redstone: the device emits a redstone signal proportional to the current page a player is viewing — page one gives signal one, page fifteen gives the maximum signal of fifteen. Combined with comparators, this enables interactive door-codes, page-driven music selectors, and library catalogue systems that activate hidden mechanisms when a particular page is open. The block also serves as the workstation of the librarian villager profession, the most coveted role for end-game enchantment trading.