Lectern

A lectern is a block found in villages, and is used to hold books for multiple players to read in multiplayer.

Obtaining
Lecterns can be broken with any tool, but an axe mines it the fastest.

Natural generation
Lecterns can generate in village libraries.

Usage
Lecterns are used for holding book and quills that other players can read at the same time. To use a lectern, right-click an empty one with a book and quill to place a book on the lectern. Then, right click on the book to open and read it - multiple players can read the book simultaneously. The book can be removed from the lectern after placing it down. A player can either put a written book and quill or an unfinished one on a lectern.

Redstone signal
Lecterns holding a book will emit a redstone pulse when a page is turned. A redstone comparator will also record book reading and send a signal, depending on what page the player is currently on. (e.g a book with 15 pages will power 1 redstone level per page, or one with 5 pages will emit 3 signal strength per page.)

Changing profession
If a village has a lectern and there is no librarian villager, any villager has a chance to change their profession into a librarian if those villagers have not already chosen a workstation.

Fuel
Lecterns can be used as fuel in furnaces to smelt 1.5 items, so using 2 of them as fuel can smelt 3 items.

Block entity
A lectern has a block entity associated with it that holds additional data about the block.