Luther Seminary Library

Reformation Open House

Please join us for an open house on Thursday, October 30 from10:30-2:00 pm in the library Special Collections Room. On display will be some of the library's interesting pieces that demonstrate the evolution of the Bible as a physical object. The theme of the display is "The Bible as a Book: Papyrus ◊ Parchment ◊ Paper."

While you are on the 3^rd floor of Gullixson Hall you are also invited to stop by the Region III and Luther Seminary Archives and the Reformation Research Program office to get better acquainted with what these departments are doing to preserve and make accessible important documents from the history of Luther Seminary and the Church. And, of course, refreshments will be served in the commons area. We look forward to seeing you on Thursday.

My name is Bruce Eldevik and I approve this message.

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Scavenger Hunt: Open to all students currently enrolled at Luther Seminary. Begins October 1, ends October 28. All questions will be posted in the Library Blog (Behind the Library Mask) during October. Keep a list of the questions & your answers and submit all at the same time with your name and contact information. All entries are due by 2:00pm October 29

Clue #9: Find the aisle in the STACKS where Luthers Works reside (the 55+ volume set edited by Jaroslav Pelikan, not the set that is found in the Reading Room).

In the 5^th Section there are a series of red books on the works of Martin Luther (published in 1987) and series of blue books (published in 1967).

What language are they in?

Name one of the tradutores:

What is the name of the writer of these books (How is it written in the translation)?

 

Living into Christ’s New Creation: Confronting Racism

Mary Hess and others are teaching the Dismantling Racism workshop this weekend. Participants will be wrestling with hard questions and working to effect change in themselves and the church. We’ve pulled together a mini-display of books from Luther’s collection that deal with some of the issues. As I looked at the display in the Reading Room I was reminded of how subtle racism can be and how pervasive.

When you are looking for a book you can do a title or author search if you know what you want. To find books on unfamiliar research topics you might try a keyword search. In our catalog you will get SUPERIOR results if you do a subject search. The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) are used to identify the topics a book covers.

One of the texts for the class, A many colored kingdom: multicultural dynamics for spiritual formation, by Elizabeth Conde-Frazier, S. Steve Kang, and Gary A. Parrett, has these subject headings:

Christian education.

Multiculturalism --Religious aspects --Christianity.

Once you find a book that looks interesting you can often find more by clicking on the LCSH which are hot-linked. The Library of Congress cataloging librarians chose these headings to make your search “easier.” At times they are right on and appropriate but they can also be confusing, behind the times, not politically correct, and offensive.

Sanford Berman, legendary Hennepin County cataloging librarian, spent much of his professional life attempting to change the LCSH. A brief look at this is found on Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanford_Berman in the section on Alternative Subject Headings. Berman felt so strongly he wrote a paper, "Prejudices and Antipathies: A Tract on the LC Subject Heads Concerning People."  

So, as you learn and move toward new understanding, don’t forget that there is bias in every institutional system. We all must work towards change.

— Jennie Bartholomew, Electronic Services (and activist!) Librarian

P.S. Wikipedia is a controversial site for many (not recommended as a resource when you are writing a paper). In this case I thought their summary of Berman’s work was well done.

Scavenger Hunt Clue #8: What library staff member has his or her office in the stacks?

Why?

Find the periodical on Black Sacred Music, special issue, Vol. 6, no. 1, Spring 1992.

Name four (4) genres of music represented in this issue.

What fervent wish did Duke Ellington express (p.151)?

SERIOUSLY ONLINE?

Disclaimer: the author makes no pretense of the following opinions having any scientific basis or support whatsoever.

Generally, I think the benefit of the doubt used to be given more freely to people when they were doing stuff online. The friendly assumption usually applied that when someone was seated at a computer, it was for some serious purpose: research, correspondence, something like that.

Now? maybe not so much: without actually assuming the worst (people using computers are goofing off, killing time, browsing aimlessly, whatever) don't we more or less reserve judgment?

Case in point: what about those swell public access computers in the library's periodicals area? We know why we have them there (for people to use for research purposes, to send documents to library printers, etc.) but what do we know about their actual , and opposed to their intended use? Or what about laptops in class? It's not something I have much time to muse over, but when I'm lecturing, what's the likelihood that all the students who have their laptops booted up are using them to take notes, breathlessly writing down my every word?

This is not something new, I'm sure, but I've been coming across some interesting attempts to reflect, or be more self-aware, about why so many of us find it hard not to be online.

Examples:

• "Just Let Me Check One Last Thing . . . 24 Hours Without Google," from a recent issue of the Washington Post.

   

• And, as part of a list of recommended personal software programs, a tech writer in Slate describes his experiences with RescueTime, "a hardworking little program that monitors everything [he does on his]computer." The author discovers that he had spent 727 hours – roughly 1/3 of his time – online in the previous 3 months.

Me? One thing I do find helpful is to make on-the-fly notes during the course of an entire workday now and then (not often enough). This helps me not only to be brutally honest not only about how much time I am online, but how that time, in that environment, fits in with the other stuff I do. As with so many other things, we are all learning as we go.

DRS
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Now, here's Library Scavenger Hunt Clue #7: Folio Exercise: Find this book.

Catalogue Title: (The) Book of common prayer, and administration of the sacraments, & other rites & ceremonies of the church, according to the use of the Church of England; together with the Psalter or Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be sung or said in churches; & the form & manner of making, ordaining, and consecrating of bishops, priests, and deacons.

What is the call number?  

What title appears on the spine?  

Open to Psalm XXVII. What is the Latin subtitle for this psalm?  

What does the small illustration of the T show?

 

Library Noontime Forums Return for a Third Year

        Join the library staff on these Wednesdays in October & November for free PIZZA with demonstration and discussion of new, improved, or just plain handy library online resources.

October 22 – The NEW search interface used by our EBSCO databases:

• Academic Search Premier
• New Testament Abstracts
• Old Testament Abstracts

Find out how this enhancement can make your searching easier and more effective.

October 29 -- How to go "back to the sources": Thesaurus Linguae Graecae and Luthers Werke.  How to search the original texts of ancient and patristic Greek literature and Martin Luther's German and Latin writings.

November 19 – Secrets of the new library website and the ATLA Religion Database

All sessions are from 12:00 NOON – 1:00 PM in Gullixson Hall, Room 103.  (Let us know how much pizza to order.  RSVP to Jennie, x458, jbartholomew001@luthersem.edu)

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Scavenger Hunt: Open to all students currently enrolled at Luther Seminary. Begins October 1, ends October 28. All questions will be posted in the Library Blog (Behind the Library Mask) during October. Keep a list of the questions & your answers and submit all at the same time with your name and contact information. All entries are due by 2:00pm October 29

Clue #6: Find the floor with books in the BT7.H668c–BT75.B283w4 range. In aisle 1 there is a series of books with a design of blue and white color bands.

What famous theologian do these concern?

What language are they written in?

Save Time: Correct Citations with Endnote

Save time! Simplify bibliographies! Create perfect footnotes!

If you routinely write papers and cite your resources in a bibliography or footnotes you can save time using Endnote. This software program allows you to create files holding your bibliographic data. These are called libraries. You can add resources manually or search in catalogs and/or databases and add them automatically.

Once you have created a library of resources (books, journal articles, interviews, websites, etc.) you are all set to repeatedly cite this information correctly. Endnote reduces the amount of typing you have to do when you’re working on a paper. You can also create annotated bibliographies automatically without having to format them.

Anyone who has writing a thesis on their To Do List can simplify the process with Endnote. Luther Seminary has a site license and the software is available to load on your computer. Contact Network Services for a copy.

A workshop or a refresher tutorial can be arranged. Contact Jennie, x458 with questions.

Scavenger Hunt: Open to all students currently enrolled at Luther Seminary. Begins October 1, ends October 28. All questions will be posted in the Library Blog (Behind the Library Mask) during October. Keep a list of the questions & your answers and submit all at the same time with your name and contact information. All entries are due by 2:00pm October 29. All correct entries will be entered in a drawing to be held during the Open House.

Scavenger Hunt Clue #5: What notice is posted above the copy machines?

What law does this refer to?

What is the blue poster to the right of the copy machine on level 4?

Prosopography, Identity, and Life in General.

Perhaps we all hope that someday far into the future, there will be people so fascinated by our little slice of human endeavor that they will go to the trouble of differentiating us from the great throng of the names of recorded history and gather a little information on just who they think we may have been.  If you are anything like the sixth known Hilarius of the later Roman empire, and if they have the wherewithal to create a work like our recent acquisition, the Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire (DG203.5 .J6), you will get your wish.  Unfortunately, he was accused of conspiracy and executed--but I'm confident you will make a better mark on history.

The modern-day prosopography--that is, a study of the lives and interconnections of a collective group of people--mentioned above is certainly not alone in its attempt to identify and describe people of the past.  Another recent acquisition which considers historical identity and use of bodies, lives, and names in a more rhetorical sense in Patristic literature is A Feminist Companion to Patristic Literature (BR67 .F45).  This collection of essays should be a useful resource for those interested in gender and sexuality in the context of the Early Church and New Testament, as well as those who want insight into a formational period for historical Christian understandings of sexuality and for the use and understanding of body imagery in religious texts based upon the Patristic tradition.

Identity and religious affinity within the context of personality and psychology is covered in the latest volume (19) in the series Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion (BL60 .R47).  This volume features a special section on adolescent spirituality.  We also have the previous volumes in this series, for those interested in social scientific aspects of religious study.

Finally, a book that fascinated me as I leafed through it, is Harvest of Blossoms by Selma Meerbaum- Eisinger ( PT2673.E35 I313), a young victim of the Holocaust, whose poetry was saved by friends and now published in translation, not unlike the diary of Anne Frank.  The poetry is youthful to a fault, but has moments which, in the context of her tragedy, have an incredible force.  Take these lines from the final poem, for example:

This is the hardest: to give yourself away/
...and realize/ you'll fade like smoke and leave no trace.

We are fortunate that this isn't completely the case.

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Come celebrate with us!

• Put the Open House on your calendar—October 30.
• Stop in next week to see the new display in the Catalog Room.
• Start reading the new Library Blog. We’ll release a new Scavenger Hunt clue with each blog post. (The prize pool includes I-pod shuffles and Gift Certificates from the Bookstore.)

Scavenger Hunt: Open to all students currently enrolled at Luther Seminary. Begins October 1, ends October 28. All questions will be posted in the Library Blog (Behind the Library Mask) during October. Keep a list of the questions & your answers and submit all at the same time with your name and contact information. All entries are due by 2:00pm October 29.

Clue # 4: The art reproductions on this floor are all available to be checked out. The two facing each other on opposite walls portray very different subjects.

On the South wall who is the man dressed in a brown robe?
Name 3 types of animals in the picture.
Who painted it originally?

On the North wall what is the river scene of?
What year does it represent?
What are two things in the scene that we don’t see anymore?

On a Desert Island

Picture yourself on a desert island. No, you're not there for vacation, but because some unwelcome set of circumstances - storm, shipwreck, or other catastrophe - has deposited you there.

But it's okay, because you were prepared for something like this. You had already  told  yourself ahead of time "if I were ever stranded on a desert island, the study resources I would most want to have at hand (other than the Bible) would be (insert favorites here)."

A few years ago, I put out an unscientific questionaire to other theological librarians, asking them what resources they considered to be indispensable. The results were posted online here. Some of the most frequently mentioned were The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church,The Encyclopedia of Religion, and a few others. Because new stuff is always being published, and more and more good material is being offered online (does your desert island have wi-fi?), maybe it would be a good idea to run this little survey again?

How about you - desert island or not, what are the resources you return to again and again; the ones you wouldn't want to be without?You never know when you'll need your favorites close at hand!

  Now for our Fabulous Scavenger Hunt Clue #3:

On the first floor at the bottom of the stairs (north wall) is a special viewing machine.

What types of materials is this for?
Who is the manufacturer?

Find the November 1953 issue of Luther Life ("Magazine for Lutheran Youth").

Name the swashbuckler they recommend.
Who wrote the article on being a Conscientious Objector?
How much did the magazine cost? 

Scavenging in the Library

This is Will, the acquisitions coordinator at the library. On this blog, I am going to be posting information about some of the new books that we receive.  Last time, I posted about recent books on politics and faith.  This week I've got a scavenger hunt clue at the end of the post, so be sure to check that out below.  Also, let me just mention that I'm not and haven't ever been a seminarian, so I would love to hear comments from you about the books and resources I highlight. 

One of the interesting books that came across my desk recently is titled Sacred Spaces: Religious Architecture in the Ancient World by G.J. Wightman (NA4620 .W53 Fol.). Take a look at the table of contents here http://www.peeters-leuven.be/toc/9789042918030.pdf. This should be an interesting, and somewhat unique, resource for those interested in how peoples have understood the relationship of divinity, dwelling, worship, and space in history.  It seems like one of the key qualities of the book is that it allows for ease in appreciating a broader context surrounding any particular culture’s religious spaces.  This would be a great resource for those who are interested in how the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, for instance, related to other contemporary temples. 

Come celebrate with us!

• Put the Open House on your calendar—October 30.
• Stop in next week to see the new display in the Catalog Room.
• Start reading the new Library Blog. We’ll release a new Scavenger Hunt clue with each blog post. (The prize pool includes I-pod shuffles and Gift Certificates from the Bookstore.)

Scavenger Hunt: Open to all students currently enrolled at Luther Seminary. Begins October 1, ends October 28. All questions will be posted in the Library Blog (Behind the Library Mask) during October. Keep a list of the questions & your answers and submit all at the same time with your name and contact information. All entries are due by 2:00pm October 29.

Clue #2:
A.  Find the Hebrew Alphabet poster.  What kinds of books are in the bookcase to the left of the poster, PC-PF call numbers?
B.  On this same floor, take a look at the art reproductions.  What is the title of the painting of the Jesus-like figure standing at the back of the cathedral? 
C.  Name the book, chapter and verse of the scripture quotation on the bottom of the painting: "And lo I am with you always, even to the end of the world."

Dancing in the Library? Singing in the Stacks?

During October the librarians will be celebrating. What’s up? Are we celebrating the new computers, cooler days, interesting reference questions from new students, that we used 16+ reams of paper during the first weeks of September?

Well, no. October is Theological Libraries Month. Four weeks seem like a long time to celebrate, especially for anyone with introverted tendencies. We’ll be celebrating rather quietly with events that include a Reformation Display and a Scavenger Hunt. We invite you to join us for a day of celebration at our Open House, October 30. The Rare Book Room will be open to all, featuring works from the Reformation and some of our other treasures. We’ll also have treats for all in the 3^rd Floor Lounge. We’ll have the drawing for prizes for our Scavenger Hunt winners.

Come celebrate with us!

• Put the Open House on your calendar—October 30.
• Stop in next week to see the new display in the Catalog Room.
• Start reading the new Library Blog. We’ll release a new Scavenger Hunt clue with each blog post. (The prize pool includes I-pod shuffles and Gift Certificates from the Bookstore.)

—Jennie Bartholomew, Electronic Services Librarian

 

Scavenger Hunt: Open to all students currently enrolled at Luther Seminary. Begins October 1, ends October 28. All questions will be posted in the Library Blog (Behind the Library Mask) during October. Keep a list of the questions & your answers and submit all at the same time with your name and contact information. All entries are due by 2:00pm October 29.

Clue #1: How many bathrooms are located within the 8 floors of library book stacks?