When I first started my career as a Theological Librarian, I was psyched to learn that there was a month dedicated to highlight our special roles in the field of librarianship. I also love a good excuse to be creative with public programming, and also PARTY.
Established by the American Theological Library Association (ATLA), Theological Libraries Month (TLM) highlights the vital role libraries and librarians play in theological education. Now an annual October event, this year we will celebrate the month by interviewing Payne Theological Seminary’s esteemed faculty about their reading habits and collecting information about their use of the library.
I've organized three ways the Payne Community to celebrate:
- Using Qualtrics' free survey design software I've invited faculty, students, staff and alumni to help Bishop Reverdy C. Ransom Library assess how well we currently meet their needs and in what areas we might be able to improve. Feedback from the survey will be sued to make improvements to our collections, services, and library spaces, including purchase of major e-journal collections, and the purchase of new scanners and mobile charger
- The ATLANTIS Listserv is a great place to exchange ideas, tips, share frustrations and keep updated on the latest trends in Theological Librarianship. Jason Fowler, a library director at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary shared his institutions faculty interview project. I reached out and shared my delight and interest in duplicating the idea with Payne's considerably smaller faculty, recognizing that attribution matters. The Library has partnered with Development Office to record short videos where we ask faculty members, “Outside of the Bible, what book has most influenced you?” In these 2 minute videos professors will share what the book is, who wrote it, and how it influenced them. This will be a great way connect with the Payne Community, share stories about the faculty member’s spiritual formation and highlight the seminary’s incredible resources; people and print! Videos will be posted weekly during the month of October. Sonya, Payne's Public Relations and Research Manager shot the video on her Surface Tablet, Raye, Marketing and Alumni Relations Manager created all the graphics and I edited the footage using Windows Movie Maker. Watch the first video below:
- ATLA has created a social media campaign to encourage students, faculty, and staff to visit the stacks during the month of October so that we all might participate in the ATLA’s social media contest. The Task: Create poetry using the titles of books from the library and snap a photo. Pastrons will then post photos to Twitter or Facebook using #TLM2015. Pictures will be tagged to @yourATLA on Twitter or our Facebook so you can be entered into the contest. The contest ends October 31. Three winners will be chosen at random and announced on the ATLA Newsletter. I've encouraged our distance education students to use their personal library of theological titles!
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| This Lovely Poem was crated by Archival Intern, Ciana Ayenu |
I also took the opportunity to connect the larger campaign with my work as Payne's Theological Librarian. During the month of October I will be off traveling to two conferences representing the Bishop Reverdy C. Ransom Library. I will be attending the 2015 Parliament of World Religions in Salt Lake City, Utah with the ATLA Board of Directors and Diversity Committee on which I serves. As a 2015 ARL + DLF Forum Fellowships for Underrepresented Group, recipient I will travel to Vancouver, BC for the Digital Library Federation Annual conference learning from other library professionals how to support and increase our very own Payne Theological Seminary and AME Church Digital Archive on the Princeton Theological Commons.
I invited patrons to follow me on Twitter and read about my conference participation on this blog. I get the impressions sometimes that the my enthusiasm for libraries is a bit misunderstood by some of my user base and that they don't understand the collaborative nature of the profession or the need to network at conferences. By creating a month of very concrete collaborative activities that center them and require their express participation, I intend to bridge the gap between concept and praxis and create a better library experience for everyone who looks to the Ransom Library to fulfill their information needs.
