Theological Library Research Articles

Latinos’ Informational Needs in Attaining Accredited Theological Education

This paper explores published articles that report on theological education in the Hispanic/Latino community. It looks at U.S. demographic changes and the needs of the Latino community to provide civic and church leadership within their communities. The article reports on past efforts, and challenges, to increase Latino enrollment in graduate theological education. It looks at current strategies by Asociación para la Educación Teológica Hispana (AETH) to collaborate with American Theological Schools (ATS) and the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) to certify unaccredited Bible Institutes so that the educational standards will be strengthened and create a clearer pathway for Latinas/os to enter ATS accredited member schools. The purpose of the paper is to present the AETH commission report and discuss ways to help strengthen ways to meet the informational needs of students in Bible Institutes as well as provide more resources that will meet the needs of the Latino community.

Web Review: The Association of Religion Data Archives

Theological Librarianship is an open access journal publishing peer-reviewed articles, as well as essays and reviews, on subjects at the intersection of librarianship and religious and theological studies that potentially impact libraries.

Depicting Caribbean Theological Libraries

Theological libraries in the Caribbean have suffered from invisibility, so this study aims to bring these libraries to the fore. It presents key features of the libraries and seeks to determine if these are influenced by the libraries’ denominational affiliation, geographic location, and size. Geographically speaking, the target area was twenty-nine Caribbean territories. Data was gathered using a questionnaire containing mainly open-ended questions in English and Spanish, which was mostly administered face-to-face. The general results are offered first: the number of libraries found, their geographic location—whether in the English, Spanish and Dutch-speaking Caribbean—their denominations, and their size. These results are followed by a more detailed presentation focusing on classification schemes, subject headings, automation, and staffing at the supervisory level. The findings are then analyzed by denomination, location, and size. The article ends with a discussion of the results, comparing theological libraries in the Caribbean with theological libraries in the United States, Asia, and Europe. The study concludes that denomination and location have not affected the findings; but size has to some extent. Also, in some areas, Caribbean theological libraries resemble those in North America, while in others they resemble those in Asia and Europe.

Library Research Instruction for Doctor of Ministry Students: Outcomes of Instruction Provided by a Theological Librarian and by a Program Faculty Member

At some seminaries the question of who is more effective teaching library research is an open question. There are two camps of thought: (1) that the program faculty member is more effective in providing library research instruction as he or she is intimately engaged in the subject of the course(s), or (2) that the theological librarian is more effective in providing library research instruction as he or she is more familiar with the scope of resources that are available, as well as how to obtain “hard to get” resources. What began as a librarian’s interest in determining the extent to which Doctor of Ministry (DMin) students begin their research using Google, resulted in the development of a survey. Given the interesting results returned from the first survey in fall of 2008, the survey was conducted again in the fall of 2011. The results of the comparative data led to the discovery of some useful data that will be used to adjust future instruction sessions for DMin students. The results of the surveys indicated that the instruction provided by the theological librarian was more effective as students were more prepared to obtain and use resources most likely to provide the best information for course projects. Additionally, following the instruction of library research skills by the librarian (2011 survey), DMin students were more likely to begin the search process for information resources using university provided catalogs and databases than what was reported in the 2008 survey. The responses to the two surveys piqued interest regarding both eBook use during the research process and the reduction of research frustration to be addressed in a follow-up survey to be given in 2014, results of which we hope to report in a future article.

Preparing collections for digitisation: The case of religious archives in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

This article seeks to suggest some of the steps that archival repositories with religious archives should adopt when preparing collections for digitisation. The proposed resource manual is based on a survey using questionnaires, observation and interviews that was conducted between 2011 and 2012 in archival repositories with religious archives in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa to ascertain their readiness for digitisation. The findings revealed that the lack of adequate housing facilities and the need to promote access were incentivising the need to pursue this expensive but noble venture. In other words, the two models of digitisation preferred by these archival repositories were on demand and user initiated, respectively. Despite the great enthusiasm by these surveyed institutions to leapfrog into the digital era, the study concluded, inter alia, that there was a need for the repositories to ensure that their analogue material was meticulously organised before embarking on digitisation. Other pertinent issues included the need for pragmatism, laying parameters in as far as the scope and purpose of what such a project would aim at, identifying resources (human, technical and financial), the benefits to be derived from the digitisation, time framing, transforming the organisational culture, copyright issues, metadata provision, collaborating and selection of content to be digitised. These recommendations come against a backdrop of the poor state of religious archives in the Pietermaritzburg Cluster of Theological Libraries (PCTL) and the need for these repositories to strategically position themselves for the inevitable digitisation, thus ensuring the survival of this record in the long term. It was Bailey who advocated that information professionals need to recognise that although technology moves quickly, with organisations slow to change, we need to work to expedite our responsiveness to change, whatever its pace.Intradisciplinary and/or�interdisciplinary�implications: There is need for archival repositories to move with the times in search of relevance in this InfoTech world; hence, in some academic circles digitisation has been viewed as the microfilm of the new millennium. The proposed resource manual could therefore promote best practices in their digitisation efforts.

Longing: A Concept Analysis

This paper uses Rodgers' evolutionary view of concept analysis to define the human response of longing. The purpose is to develop a definition of longing as the first step in diagnosis development. A literature review was conducted by searching the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, American Theological Library Association Religion, JSTOR Philosophy, JSTOR Religion, PsycINFO, and PubMed databases to yield an across-discipline sample of articles. Three researchers identified the attributes, antecedents, consequences, situational context, and surrogate terms of longing. An operational definition was developed. Longing is clearly a human response to loss, crossing illness and situations in which nurses encounter patients in multiple settings. This supports the need to further develop longing into a nursing diagnosis.

Library Research Instruction for Doctor of Ministry Students: Outcomes of Instruction Provided by a Theological Librarian and by a Program Faculty Member

Library Research Instruction for Doctor of Ministry Students: Outcomes of Instruction Provided by a Theological Librarian and by a Program Faculty Member

Travels of an Itinerant Librarian 2011-13

An interesting look at the travel tales and experiences of a retired theological librarian.

Encouraging a Positive Outlook: The Benefits of Appreciative Inquiry in a Theological Library

Librarians face a future of rapid and disconcerting change, and it is increasingly important to address this change in a constructive way. In contrast to problem-solving approaches which focus on the negative, Appreciative Inquiry helps staff recognize the good attributes of their organization and explore ways to build on those strengths for the future. This study investigated the application of Appreciative Inquiry in the context of a theological library at Trinity International University. Interviews and a summit meeting were held with staff to elicit positive characteristics of the library and their jobs. These results were then used to suggest proposals for the future. The process itself is a useful way to transform the culture of a library and create an environment that welcomes positive change.

Feminist Biblical Interpretation: A Compendium of Critical Commentary on the Books of the Bible and Related Literature

Theological Librarianship is an open access journal publishing peer-reviewed articles, as well as essays and reviews, on subjects at the intersection of librarianship and religious and theological studies that potentially impact libraries.

기독교 분야 내부보조표 설정에 관한 연구 - 한국십진분류법 제5판을 중심으로 -

The purpose of this study is to develop internal tables in Christian religion in the 5 th edition of Korean Decimal Classification. The scope of the Christianity, its structure of various classification schemes, and the concepts of internal tables were analyzed. The contents of several textbooks were analyzed for the scope of the discipline and the classification schemes and internal tables of DDC, UDC, NDC, LCC, Classification of the Library of Union Theological Seminary and the Classification of the Korea Theological Library were compared. And then, internal tables in Bible, sermon, worship, church history were built and those tables were evaluated by librarians and experts in the fields. And finally, internal tables of the Christiainity and new headings were suggested. New internal tables in Christianity will increase the effectiveness of information retrieval and it will provide a foundation for developing internal tables in other disciplines.

Reading and E-reading for Academic Work: Patterns and Preferences in Theological Studies and Religion

This article reports on a 2012 survey of library patrons at ATLA-affiliated libraries regarding academic reading habits and preferences. The research questions for the study were: [1] To what extent is academic reading done as e-reading?; [2] What features do participants value in e-books?; [3] What library sources do patrons want made available to them electronically? The method used in the study was an online survey. A total of 2,578 individuals took the survey in the spring of 2012. Key findings were that half of respondents regularly read journal articles on a computer screen and one in five regularly reads or listens to e-books in their academic work. Participants wanted e-books to enable them to perform keyword searches, move around quickly within the text, and annotate the text electronically. Seven out of ten participants stated that they would like libraries to provide reference works, Bible commentaries, circulating titles, and textbooks in electronic format. It appeared that the distinction between library-owned resources and those owned by an individual disappeared in the minds of many respondents. The author concludes that theological library directors should consider spending a significant proportion of their collection budget on electronic resources now, despite ongoing difficulties that academic publishers face in making a transition to digital publishing. The author also interprets findings in light of Fred Davis’ model of technology acceptance.

About the Journal

Theological Librarianship is an open access journal publishing peer-reviewed articles, as well as essays and reviews, on subjects at the intersection of librarianship and religious and theological studies that potentially impact libraries.

Informed Learning : A Catalyst for Change in Theological Libraries?

This paper discusses the potential interest of informed learning as a catalyst for change in theological libraries. Informed learning is a label for the relational approach to information literacy and information literacy education. It was created to highlight the importance of simultaneous attention to both information and learning when we consider peoples’ experiences in their information rich lives. The paper explores the idea of informed learning, suggesting that serious attention to informed learning experiences may challenge our thinking about our role as information professionals and the ways in which we serve our clients. The paper then moves to explore our current understandings of informed learning in faith communities and suggests some ways in which theological librarians can work to build informed communities.

Research Support in Theological Libraries (2)

Research Support in Theological Libraries (2)

Research Support in Theological Libraries (1)

Research Support in Theological Libraries (1)

Profiles: John Albert Bollier, 1927-2010

Theological Librarianship is an open access journal publishing peer-reviewed articles, as well as essays and reviews, on subjects at the intersection of librarianship and religious and theological studies that potentially impact libraries.

Historical Dictionary of Catholicism

Theological Librarianship is an open access journal publishing peer-reviewed articles, as well as essays and reviews, on subjects at the intersection of librarianship and religious and theological studies that potentially impact libraries.

The Theology Library in the 21st Century

The Theology Library in the 21st Century

The Illustrated Guide to Islam

Theological Librarianship is an open access journal publishing peer-reviewed articles, as well as essays and reviews, on subjects at the intersection of librarianship and religious and theological studies that potentially impact libraries.