Greetings from the Library
Seed & Harvest sat down with Susanah Hanson, new Director of Trinity’s Library, to talk about where the Library’s been, and where it’s going.
Susanah, give us a brief history of Trinity’s library since you’ve been involved with the School.
I came to Trinity as an MAR student in January 2002. In 2001, the Library/Academic Building had undergone a major renovation. The new library area was much larger than the previous area, and the staff was in the process of settling materials into their new spaces. The renovated library space included student study carrels, each with their own internet access, a climate-controlled Rare Book Room, and separate Reference and Periodical Rooms. The library also had space to grow.
Due to the renovation, the library had been moved twice in the previous year – to the Commons Hall where it resided during construction, and then back to the new building. These moves had also added greatly to the stress and time commitments of the library staff. As a result, the library collection was in need of extra care and attention.
In July 2003, John Doncevic was hired as the Library Director. John took the library collection to the next level. He hired a library archivist as a consultant to analyze and arrange the Rare Book Room, in addition to identifying which books needed to be deacidified. John also hired a part-time cataloger, Kathryn Floyd, whose sole job was to systematically go through the collection to make sure that all books were findable via the online catalog. John also worked at developing a collection that was deliberately theological, Anglican and Christ-centered.
By the time John moved on to become director of Geneva College’s McCartney Library in July 2007, the entire library collection had been gone through, book by book, and each item had been cataloged in the online catalog with new labels and pockets as needed. The periodical collection had been assessed, organized and bound as needed with the help of Deb Erb-White. The backlog of uncataloged new books had been reduced, and the gift books had been sorted and re-organized to await cataloging and processing. The items in the Rare Book Room had been cataloged, and the Trinity archives had begun to be organized.
The library currently holds approximately 100,000 volumes and subscribes to over 440 periodicals, with an emphasis on biblical studies and Anglican theology. Several electronic databases are available for student use, including an Ebsco suite of databases and the Ad Fontes Classical Protestant Texts database.
Besides the Rare Book Room, what other elements are unique to the Trinity library?
John was instrumental in helping Grant LeMarquand to establish the Marjory Stanway Alcove. This section of the library is dedicated to a large collection of African Bibles, prayer books and hymnbooks. The collection continues to grow and will see the addition of more cases and books in the near future. (See the article on page 7 to read about Grant’s passion for this collection of African books.)
Visitors to the library are often surprised to see a collection of antique farming implements hung from the walls in the circulation area. These tools were donated to the library by the Rev. Dr. Kenneth Bailey, canon theologian for the Diocese of Pittsburgh, who lived in the Middle East for many years. The farming implements include an ox yoke, winnowing fork, plow and threshing sledge from Syria and Lebanon, dated to the mid-19th century. These tools give visitors a glimpse into the agrarian lifestyle of the Middle East and shed light on the world of the Bible.
The library was one of the major positives of the ATS visit last year, wasn’t it?
ATS, the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, Trinity’s accrediting agency, made their most recent accrediting visit in November 2006. The library was highly commended for the improvements made, and for the work of John Doncevic in maintaining a vibrant and growing library. The last time they had visited, the ATS team marked several areas needing improvement in the library. That ATS report was instrumental in encouraging the capital campaign that resulted in the new library space. In 2006, ATS complimented the school on the expansion. The ATS team noted that the library’s collection policy guidelines appropriately emphasized the acquisition of Anglican and biblical studies and were pleased at the shape of the library collection. John was lauded as being an energetic and gifted director who was taking the library in the right direction.
Talk a little bit about the people of the Library.
The Library is fortunate to have really committed people on staff who are loyal to the Library and to the School. One staff member remains a constant – Janice Bova, who has been at the library for almost 30 years. Jan is the Assistant to the Librarian and she handles the periodical collection, book binding, and inter-library loans. She has seen many library directors, staff members and students come and go. Jan also has the reputation of knowing and caring for multitudes of Trinity students and their families, both while they are here and after they graduate. You only need to look at the photos of alumni and their families on her bulletin board to see that it’s true.
The newest full-time staff member is Tamara Jacques. Tami began working at the library in August 2007 as Assistant Librarian. She holds a BA from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a Master of Library and Information Sciences degree from the University of Pittsburgh. Tami’s main duties here at Trinity include acquisitions, course reserves, cataloging and staffing the circulation desk. Tami and her husband Mark enjoy walking their three dogs, and Tami is interested in all types of creative ventures, one of which includes being an avid knitter.
In addition to full-time staff, we have several part-time staff who help us out. Deb Erb-White has been instrumental in organizing the periodical collection. Suzanne Perkins works in various capacities around Trinity, but in the library, she has been working to organize the Trinity archives. Her efforts in formulating a policy for the archives collection have included visits to other local archives and a day with Lynne Wohleber, the archivist for the Diocese of Pittsburgh. Our student workers, who staff the circulation desk, shelve books and are general gophers, include Chuck Anker, Richard Bates,
Mike Demmon, Patrick Duddy, and Kirk Patterson. Without their valuable assistance, the library would cease to function.
And then, there is you – the newest Library Director!
I was hired as a student worker in the library in February 2002 – I worked the evening shift re-shelving books and helping with other projects as directed. As time went on, I was “promoted” to staffing the circulation desk and handling reference questions. Later I was instructed in the fine
art of cataloging, and I had the privilege of assisting the acquisitions manager in processing new books.
I have a BA in Christian Ministries from Geneva College. I completed my MAR here at Trinity in May 2004 and was hired full-time by John Doncevic in July of that year to acquire and process new books, in addition to handling course reserves. One of my other main duties was to catalog new books that came into the library, and I also helped with the retrospective cataloging process. With John’s support, I entered into an online program with the University of Pittsburgh to obtain my MLIS. Though at the date of this writing I am still waiting for my diploma to arrive, I graduated with my MLIS in August 2007, after two years of part-time study.
It is my privilege to now serve as the Library Director of Trinity School for Ministry. I have only been in this position for a couple of months, but I am settling in to the new duties, and pray that I am able to serve the Trinity community in the best ways possible. I am thankful to be in a job that I love and thankful that God has granted me the opportunity to continue working for Trinity. It is wonderful to work with books (truly one of my first loves!) and I have enjoyed getting to know the faculty on a more personal basis. Working in a place of faith has truly been a blessing to me. It is also a bonus that I don’t have a long commute to work – my husband and I live just up the hill in Ambridge. But the most important thing to me is that I can do a job that I love while serving God and his servants. I am able to utilize my gifts and abilities on a daily basis to further the kingdom of God and that is awesome!
The library has come a long way, even just since you’ve been here. What does its future look like?
There is always work to be done in the library. We need to complete an inventory of our holdings. There is also a room full of gift books in need of cataloging – a process which Tami and I hope to have completed by July 2008. Other projects include the further development of the library’s atlas and map collection and the addition of more Hebrew and Greek reference resources, for which we have received grant monies. And this is in addition to the usual purchasing and cataloging of new books and gift books that have come to the library. We ask for your prayers as we continue to serve the students, faculty, staff and friends of Trinity.
Susanah Hanson is Trinity’s Library Director.
