Library News

The Princeton Theological Seminary Library's partnership with the Internet Archive continues to expand access to theological material.

"Access is the biggest benefit. And when you have a public health crisis, the benefit is even more pronounced having these materials online..." Greg Murray, Director of Digital Initiatives, Princeton Theological Seminary Library

The recent book contributions from Claremont to IA, which will be digitized over the next two years, allow the Princeton Theological Seminary Library to further focus our efforts on in-copyright works for the IA controlled digital lending program. While we’ll continue scanning other library collections, we’re committed to enhancing digital access to current materials.

Follow the links below to learn more about the work and Princeton Seminary's partnership with the Internet Archive.

Princeton Theological Seminary Library is a member of HathiTrust, a digital academic library, including both public domain and in-copyright works.

For help using the HathiTrust digital library, see their help page.

You always have access to public domain items. Some in-copyright works are accessible through the HathiTrust Emergency Temporary Access Service (ETAS).

Enter this season of Advent with some scholarly and devotional reading.

There will be a pause in some library services for Thanksgiving.

There will be no curbside pickup service Thursday or Friday, November 26 and 27, and reference service will end at 1pm EST on Wednesday, November 25 and resume on Monday, November 30.

Online resources remain available, of course!

Two collections in Bloomsbury's Theology and Religion Online database are available through a trial subscription which expires December 4, 2020: Library of Catholic Thought and T&T Clark Jesus Library.

Library of Catholic Thought highlights:

• Discover The New Jerome Biblical Commentary: Second Revised Edition - A new edition of this major reference work, which is digitally exclusive to Library of Catholic Thought. This new edition also features a preface by Pope Francis.
• Explore Handbooks of Catholic Theology - A major international textbook series under the general editorship of Christoph Cardinal Schönborn of Vienna, these five volumes cover key topics such as liturgy and church history
• Delve into reference works, dictionaries, and sourcebooks - Seminal reference works and primary texts brought to the digital environment with updated prefaces, user guides, and specially commissioned content.
• Read from our ebook collection - Featuring titles on Catholic theology, key thinkers, and socio-cultural concerns
• Peruse 500 Images of Catholic artwork, manuscripts, and other artifacts

T&T Clark Jesus Library highlights:

• Explore Major Reference Works including the 4-vol History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ and the 3-vol Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries (digitally exclusive to the resource)
• Discover Companions and Monographs spanning new research areas and key topics
• Read Digital Exclusive Articles written specifically for the resource by an international range of leading scholars
• Peruse 500 images sourced from the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Listen to our Audio Interviews with leading scholars in the field

We are aware of the issue accessing Oxford University Press content (https://ptsem.libguides.com/az.php?v=66101) and have contacted OUP for assistance. Subscribe or check back at the link below for updates.

November is Native American Heritage Month.

Browse this curated bibliography of selected titles from the library collection and find material in Cherokee, Delaware, Navajo, Ojibwa and other languages in the Theological Commons.

You'll also find links to the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research, the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries & Museums, and more.

Did you know about these features of the library catalog, https://catalog.ptsem.edu?

• Saving your searches
• SMS alerts and renew by text
• Mobile version and mobile app

Well, now you know!

Seriously, though, we're pleased to bring you these tools and hope they improve your experience.

Details are available in the library catalog (My Account Login Options and Help Center) and on the library website.

Here's the scoop: Our subscription to The New York Times remains active. To pick up or renew your academic pass, follow the instructions in the guide linked below.

The Washington Post discontinued its complimentary access for students and faculty in 2018 and is instead offering a subscription to individuals at a fifty percent discount. No institutional subscription is possible.

In an essay entitled Out of the Cloister: Theological Libraries as Spaces for Spiritual Formation, Princeton Seminary M.Div. Middler Briana Grenert asks, "Can theological libraries adapt to intentionally use their space to resist the separation of knowledge from love, and to participate in spiritual formation?"

Grenert, Briana. “Out of the Cloister: Theological Libraries as Spaces for Spiritual Formation.” Theological Librarianship 13, no. 2 (October 2020): 29–35. https://doi.org/10.31046/tl.v13i2.1937.

Grenert's essay was selected as the winner of the Theological Librarianship student essay contest earlier in 2020.

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.