Wright Library Princeton Theological Seminary
Fourth Edition
April 2023
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
INTRODUCTION
CONTEXT
THE LIBRARY IN ITS WIDER ENVIRONMENT
MISSION OF THE SEMINARY
MISSION OF WRIGHT LIBRARY
FUNCTION OF COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT AND THE PURPOSE OF THE COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE COLLECTION
POLICY
GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT
GENERAL CONTENT OF THE COLLECTION
LEVELS OF COLLECTING
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES
SELECTION CRITERIA
COURSES OF STUDY AND THE COLLECTION
BIBLICAL STUDIES
HISTORY & ECUMENICS
THEOLOGY
PRACTICAL THEOLOGY
RELIGION AND SOCIETY PROGRAM
DIGITAL COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT
THE LATIN AMERICAN COLLECTION
MEDIA
MICROFORM COLLECTION
REFERENCE COLLECTION
THE CHARLES G. REIGNER CHRISTIAN EDUCATION COLLECTION
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
ARCHIVES AND MANUSCRIPTS
INCUNABULA
MATERIAL CULTURE COLLECTION
ORAL HISTORY COLLECTION
RARE BOOK AND PAMPHLET COLLECTIONS
REFORMED RESEARCH COLLECTIONS
THE PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY COLLECTION
THE MOFFETT KOREA COLLECTION
THE KARL BARTH COLLECTION
THE DUTCH REFORMED COLLECTION
OTHER POLICY CONSIDERATIONS AND GUIDELINES
DISSERTATIONS AND THESES
DUPLICATE COPIES
FACULTY RELATIONSHIP TO COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT
GIFTS
PRESERVATION
STAFF DEVELOPMENT
FUNDING
SUBJECTS, WITH LEVELS OF COLLECTING
DEACCESSIONING
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of this document is to define the policy guiding the development of Theodore Sedgwick Wright Library’s collections. Like other collection-intensive research libraries, Wright Library is facing the challenges of adjusting collection development policy and practices to the new digital realities affecting publication, scholarship, access, and higher education. What direction should updated policy take to address these ongoing realities in the context of limited budget? As models of publication and the scholarly communications system evolve, what collecting strategies will most aid the ongoing resource needs of those who work in the fields of religious and theological study?
This policy provides a set of guidelines for collection development within the framework of the collection’s history, direction, interrelation with Princeton University’s collections, and relationship to other regional and national-level collecting efforts. This policy aims to:
describe the current challenges of research-level collecting
explain what collection development is and how it is related to strategic directions of the institution
outline the criteria which inform the Library’s selections of content, including types of digital content
define the scope of collecting support for the academic programs and research of the institution in context with Princeton University’s collections
identify the importance of developing preservation policy and strong ongoing funding necessary to implement the policy fully and fulfill the Library’s mission.
INTRODUCTION
This document formalizes the Collection Development Policy of Wright Library and carries forward the Seminary’s continuing commitment to build and preserve collections that serve theological scholarship. The Seminary recognizes that such scholarship requires access to a broad range of content, and the Library directs its collecting commitments toward increasing the availability and long-term survival of that content.
The Collection Development Policy is intended to govern the development of Wright Library's collections. The fourth revised and updated edition of the policy continues the thematic focus of previous editions on collections that support quality theological education, the conduct of research, the production
of scholarship, and the creation and advancement of knowledge, with a special focus on the increased acquisition of digital resources and the digitization of the Library’s print holdings.
Princeton Theological Seminary assigns to the James Lenox Librarian responsibility for policies governing development and maintenance of its library collections. Faculty review of such policies is ordinarily under the jurisdiction of the Faculty Executive Committee.
The Library's Collection Development Policy under authority of the James Lenox Librarian shall be reviewed by the Library staff on an annual basis. Any substantial revision of the policy shall be distributed via the James Lenox Librarian for review to the Faculty Executive Committee and to such other parties as may be designated, including a periodic vote on the policy by the Faculty.
Wright Library’s collecting challenges continue to range from making the most cost-effective effort to grow a collection in an economy of constraint; incorporating and managing an ever-increasing volume of digital content alongside a legacy print collection; capitalizing on collaborations and partnerships that advance deep collecting; to reckoning in a free-standing, discipline-based research library with the growing interdisciplinary character of knowledge and scholarship.
In this environment, re-thinking the collection and its development becomes an important challenge.
The significance of the Collection Development Policy as an instrument of both continuity and change in thinking lies in its being the strategic content planning framework of the institution through which the Library identifies and pursues content priorities that align with the institution and the discipline it represents. This framework will continue to be deeply informed by economic realities, technological shifts, institutional directions and collaborations, all combining to bring continuity, change, and sustainability into sharper focus. Here the fundamental issue in an economy of constraint is the need to simultaneously constrain and grow the collection, making every effort to integrate into the collection as much relevant content, regardless of type, format, or source as resources allow.
With the global scholarly record in theology increasing exponentially, no single theological library can claim to be either comprehensive or self-sufficiently representative of this record, reinforcing the need to vigorously pursue local, regional, national, and international partnerships and collaborations that ensure persistent access to this record. Here the macro solutions currently receiving attention that aim to further collection development through co-investment across groups of institutions, joint ownership of collections, and shared collecting have the potential to operationally transform the Library.1
1 “Macro solutions” is the term currently in use by the Council on Library Information Resources to characterize its focus in the coming years on collaborative projects that re-conceive and solve library problems holistically in a system-wide context. See Council on Library and Information Resources Annual Report 2009-2010, Message from the President, p. 4,
https://www.clir.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2017/11/10annrep.pdf.
The shared digital repository HathiTrust Digital Library, of which Wright Library is a member, and the shared print repository Research Collections Access and Preservation Consortium (ReCap) are two examples of such partnership and collaboration. ReCap, located in Princeton, is jointly owned and operated by Columbia University, Harvard University, The New York Public Library and Princeton
The introduction of policy review and revision at this point in time is meant to engage these issues in the context of the current educational environment.
CONTEXT
THE LIBRARY IN ITS WIDER ENVIRONMENT
Collection development in research libraries continues to be in a state of flux that was only exacerbated by the pandemic. Disruptive technologies, budgetary instability, the growing dominance of digital resources in research, the legacy of print collections, mass digitization, publishing models, licensing terms, copyright restrictions, aggregator practices, repository development, library storage centers, and changing patterns of library use are all having their effect on collecting philosophies and practices. Nearly every national-level discussion of the future of research libraries weighs the impact of these factors, assesses the somewhat clouded role of library collections, and advances the critical significance of
multi-institutional collaboration, partnerships, and new forms of cooperation in mitigating the risks associated with the changing value of the traditional library.2
In the midst of these changes, research libraries are embarking on efforts to manage their legacy print collections more effectively, focus increasingly on uniquely held materials, expand digital content, improve discovery and access, support content delivery across multiple platforms, increase equitable access, and engage the intellectual property and open access issues associated with published scholarship.
When attempting to understand the scale and pace of these efforts and the sustainability concerns that now drive research collections, the circumstances at work in the current research library environment that will likely have far-reaching impact on collections should be carefully evaluated. Here five trends affecting the current situation stand out:
University. The 16+ million print items stored there are now visible in Princeton University’s online catalog and can be requested by the PTS community. http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2011/2011-01.pdf.
2 See Council on Library Information Resources, No Brief Candle: Reconceiving Research Libraries for the 21st Century, 2008, http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub142/pub142.pdf; Council on Library and Information Resources, The Idea of Order: Transforming Research Collections for 21st Century Scholarship, June 2010 https://www.clir.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/pub147.pdf; James Michalko, Constance Malpas, and Arnold Arcolio, Research Libraries, Risk and Systemic Change. Report produced by OCLC Research. Published online at:
http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2010/2010-03.pdf;
“2012 Top Ten Trends in Academic Libraries,” College and Research Libraries News, 73, 6: 311-320, http://crln.acrl.org/content/73/6/311.full
Lynn Silipigni Connaway and Timothy J. Dickey, The Digital Information Seeker: Report of the Findings from Selected OCLC, RIN, and JISC User Behaviour Projects, 2010 http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/reports/2010/digitalinformationseekerreport.pdf
Global economic conditions, including the disruption of the pandemic, will continue to have a strong impact on scholarly publishing, institutional investments, and research library collections. The limits to funding and collection growth resulting from these conditions will have an ongoing moderating effect on the vision and goals of collection development.
Ongoing rapid and chaotic change associated with the digital environment will continue to influence the expectations and patterns of use that students and faculty bring to library collections.
The emergence of acquisition models more responsive to patron needs like Evidenced Based Acquisition and patron-driven on-demand acquisition that is at the center of much current discussion will influence collection development philosophy and practice in research libraries, with some forecasts projecting it as the future form of collection development.3
National efforts to move research-level collecting into multi-institutional contexts will play an increasingly important role in the coming years. Here Internet Archive, HathiTrust and the Digital Public Library of America are perhaps the most important current examples of
collection-relevant collaboration. Internet Archive’s Open Library project depends upon its Controlled Digital Lending model which partly also supplies digital access to print material at Wright Library.
The production of books, journals, and other scholarly content will continue to evolve, in both print and digital forms into the foreseeable future and pose ongoing policy issues of priorities, funding, collecting, and sustainability for research library collection development.
This shift in the scholarly communications system is properly viewed as greatly amplifying the tension now inherent in library mission and stewardship. Among other things, it places the research library in the destabilized space between two forms of culture, the print and the digital, the one being legacy and the other, emergent. It is necessary to balance the acquisition of print and digital resources carefully to capture the theological record while also providing the type of access to resources demanded by scholars. Contrary to popular thinking, it is not yet possible to collect everything digitally. The print record that can be collected for theology and related disciplines is still larger than the corresponding digital record. For instance, while many US and UK publishers now publish in both print and electronic formats, the same cannot be said of international publishing.
While the full impact of these trends on research libraries is not yet apparent, they underline the need for careful strategic thinking about the Library’s collections, defined here as all of the multiform content that the Library makes accessible. These trends also signal the need for an agile organizational culture that supports continuous change and exhibits readiness to respond to emerging challenges and opportunities.
3 See Statement 2 of the 2009 Provocative Statements of the Taiga Forum.
MISSION OF THE SEMINARY
Princeton Theological Seminary prepares women and men to serve Jesus Christ in ministries marked by faith, integrity, scholarship, competence, compassion, and joy, equipping them for leadership worldwide in congregations and the larger church, in classrooms and the academy, and in the public arena.
MISSION OF WRIGHT LIBRARY
Wright Library provides collections and services in support of teaching, learning, and research in theology and its allied disciplines (e.g., biblical studies, history, practical theology, ethics). Shaped by two centuries of development, Wright Library embraces its role at the intersection of the theological record and the community of scholars, continues the Seminary’s commitment to build collections of depth, and promotes an environment of broad access to the theological heritage.
The collecting scope of the Wright Library is determined by the research and curricular demands of Princeton Theological Seminary. Thus, theology, in its broadest understanding is Wright Library’s primary collecting responsibility, A full picture of what “theological” collecting means in practice can be found in the descriptions of the various Seminary departments and program in Section 4.6 COURSES OF STUDY AND THE COLLECTION and in the conspectus in Section 6. SUBJECTS, WITH LEVELS OF COLLECTING. The emergence of the doctoral program at Princeton Theological Seminary in 1942 with the ThD degree which fundamentally altered the profile and future trajectory of the Seminary necessitated the building of a collection of research depth to support the research degree and to support a faculty now oriented toward research. Wright Library understands theology to be advancing with other arts and sciences through the processes of research, synthesis, and communication that are nourished by the cultural record. To the extent possible, Wright Library promotes collection and service development that will keep theology in motion, supported and guided by the record of the past and the present.
Wright Library envisions its future as one of leadership, collaboration, and innovation as it works to strengthen teaching, inspire learning, broaden access, foster research, embrace change, advance knowledge and otherwise shape and participate in the evolving global network.
FUNCTION OF COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT AND THE PURPOSE OF THE COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY
Collection development in an academic context has traditionally referred to the process of planning, building, and making accessible a library’s collection with the educational and research purposes and budget of the institution in view. The activities which have traditionally fallen under the rubric of collection development include collection policy and planning; the identification and selection of material to be added to the collection either through ownership or access; the analysis and evaluation of materials within the existing collection, with a view to preservation; and the oversight of the acquisitions program of the Library intended to implement collection development policy. Collection development policy in turn has been viewed as the systematic implementation within the Library of the educational and research mission of the institution, assuring that the values expressed in the collection are values commensurate with the institution.
The purpose of the collection development policy is fourfold: 1) to articulate Wright Library’s commitment to collect and preserve the literature of theology and its several allied disciplines; 2) to implement the goal of continued development of a collection of depth which serves the the educational and research interests and needs of the Seminary; 3) to provide perspective on materials likely to be available in or through the Library; and 4) to provide criteria and priorities for action within the Seminary and the Library which will guide those who select, process, interpret, and preserve the collection, as well as those responsible for administration and funding.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE COLLECTION
On August 12, 1812, the Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America at Princeton, New Jersey opened with the inauguration of Archibald Alexander as Professor of Didactic and Polemic Theology and the matriculation of three students. Established by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in conversation with the Trustees of the College of New Jersey, following eleven years of intermittent debate and funding effort directed toward increasing the number and quality of candidates for the ministry and improving their theological instruction, the Seminary, like Andover before it, was a response to the educational challenges of the time.4 These challenges, variously characterized during the debate, centered on the need to bring students, teachers, and books together for purposes of spiritual and scholarly formation. When a plan for the founding and organization of a Theological Seminary reached the floor of the General Assembly in May, 1811, Article VII, calling for “a complete theological Library,” came as no surprise.5 A textually literate ministry was a key issue for advocates of improved theological education in this period and played an important role in the emergence of the seminary movement in the United States.
This theme of textual literacy is deeply embedded in the Seminary’s history, where the identity of the Seminary was from the very first deeply intertwined with that of an adequate library and where the constant measure of adequacy was the invigorating presence of texts. Indeed, a very substantial part of the Seminary's institutional history, deriving in part from its Library, has been its pursuit of and contribution to the text-based culture of theology.
Within less than two months of the opening of the Seminary, its founders and advocates, who clearly had high aspirations for the Library collection, had begun their efforts to build the collection. When the Board of Directors met in Princeton on the afternoon of October 1, 1812, a committee of three consisting of Ashbel Green, Samuel Miller, and Samuel Bayard was appointed to procure books for the Seminary, with
4 The question of improvement in the piety and learning of candidates for the ministry was first raised in the General Assembly on May 23, 1799, and recurred intermittently throughout the following decade, leading to the Assembly’s decision of May 30, 1810, to establish a seminary. See Minutes of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America From Its Organization A.D. 1789 to
A.D. 1820 Inclusive (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1847).
5 It should be noted that Article VII, along with Article IX, “Of the Theological Academy,” was held over to succeeding Assemblies, not approved, and only after some passage of time did the Seminary receive authorization to print the section on the Library in the plan itself.
the provision that expenditures not exceed $100.6 As the Directors gathered in Princeton on May 18, 1813, their book committee reported the purchase, within budget, of three titles at an expenditure of
$77.49: six copies of James P. Wilson's An Easy Introduction to the Knowledge of the Hebrew Language; two copies of John Parkhurst's An Hebrew and English Lexicon Without Points; and two copies of a Hebrew Bible. The Directors themselves were urged and expected to actively seek donations of books and while, by the May 1814 meeting, no additional books had been purchased, the Directors had done their work of collecting about 250 gift volumes.
Princeton Theological Seminary entered the nation’s educational roster two hundred years ago and is today a leading international center of theological inquiry, with holdings of over 1.3 million books, journals, and microforms in its general collection; and more than 75,000 printed works, over 5,175 linear feet of archival and manuscript material, artifacts, including 2,900 plus cuneiform tablets and an extensive art collection in its Special Collections. In addition, the library offers access to an ever-expanding range of electronic databases, e-journals, and millions of e-books, many of which will continue to be available to its alumni after graduation.
POLICY
GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT
The framework guiding the Library’s collection development will evolve with the institution over time, responding to internal changes in the educational program as well as changes in the current academic, religious, and social environment. The reforming of the M.Div. curriculum and the re-envisioning of the Ph.D. program will likely contribute to refinements in the shape of the collection. The shift toward online education for both degree and non-degree programming will also require new strategies to address the breadth of student access needs for both groups. Looking ahead, the Library will redirect its collecting efforts as required by the institution, seek to learn from developments affecting the research collection landscape, absorb their impact in positive redirections, as well as continue to build on its successful collecting record. This record includes the fact that Wright Library is one of very few theological libraries in the world that continues to collect deeply from most areas of the world, contributing to the emerging global framework of collections.
At the same time, as current developments indicate, research libraries that have striven to build collections of record will be required by declining budgets and shifting priorities to turn to the building of use-driven collections in some clearly defined areas of the published record. This turn away from extensive collecting of the record will, paradoxically, infuse structures and acts of multi-institutional collaboration with new energy and importance as research libraries struggle to meet their responsibilities for content and access.
6 Princeton Theological Seminary, Minutes of the Board of Directors, October 1, 1812; May, 1813; May 1814.
This richly ambiguous and exceptionally fluid environment that confronts the Library now as a localized instance of the research library calls for a policy framework in which, in broad principle, the Library will:
Continue its collecting support of the instructional, teaching, and research needs of students and faculty.
Continue the processes of development that move through the intersection of the core literature that supports the course of study, the published scholarly record critical to research, and documentary and digital materials that encompass all relevant forms of cultural expression, achieving and maintaining appropriate levels of selection among all these materials.
Develop specified collections with of research depth that supports the mission of Princeton Theological Seminary and enhances its visibility as a local and global venue for theological inquiry
Continue to develop historic and distinctive collections of strength, particularly with respect to the Reformed Tradition
Explore the model of shared collections and shared collection development that may be possible with regional or cross-regional libraries.
Continue to embrace as much diverse, representative, inclusive, and global content as funds permit.
Implement a content strategy aimed at integrated cohesive delivery of that content and metadata.
Shape selected areas of the collection based upon more rigorous analysis of need and use including attention to the holdings of Princeton University and other regional libraries.
Continue investment in building Special Collections (rare book, manuscript, archive acquisition).
Maximize the opportunity to work with the Internet Archive and the Digital Public Library of America in the creation and delivery of digital collections.
Partner with the HathiTrust to provide trusted repository services for digital collections.
Encourage a system-wide view of collections locally, regionally, nationally that allows Wright Library to continue to collect deeply in its core areas of strength, while relying on other library partners to provide broader access to materials.
Continue to work with potential partners like Princeton University Library, the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton Public Library, SEPTLA, NYATLA, Atla, the Presebyterian Historical Society, and others to determine if there are possibilities for shared collections or services that might expand what is accessible to Wright Library
Work with major research libraries everywhere on behalf of policies, practices and initiatives that support open access to published scholarship.
At its simplest, these principles move the Collection Development Policy in the direction of decisions that retain and reinforce deep collecting at the core of library functions while recognizing existing constraints.
GENERAL CONTENT OF THE COLLECTION
The Library's collection development policy is designed primarily to provide the framework necessary to support the instructional and research programs of Princeton Theological Seminary taken in conjunction with access and distributed collecting reciprocity with Princeton
University. The Library’s collections also support the larger Princeton community and those scholars and researchers around the world interested in theology.
The kind of material collected and maintained spans the range of the varied forms of publication, transcription, and media in which religious knowledge is recorded. Such material may include the following:
Books (print and digital)
Journals (print and digital)
Continuations (monographic series, irregular series)
Microforms
Theses and Dissertations
Special Collections of Primary Source Materials
Pamphlets
Technical Reports
Media
Maps and Atlases
Electronic databases
Objects of Material Culture including Epigraphic Remains
While no theological library can any longer realistically aspire to comprehensive coverage of the Christian world in all of these forms, Wright Library nonetheless collects broadly and in depth in areas of its traditional strength. Priorities in resource allocation recognize the balance that must exist in the development of the collection to adequately support current programs and directions of the Seminary while, at the same time, subject areas of outstanding historical strength are maintained in quality.
Sometimes requests are made for additions to the collection in areas where the purchase of materials cannot be justified because they are out of scope. At such times, the Seminary must depend upon the depth of resources of other institutions, resources available locally, or through interlibrary loan. This interdependency and reliance in sharing of resources is a matter of intentional reciprocity. For policy purposes, the primary reciprocal relationship is with Princeton University. Secondary relationships exist with the libraries of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Theological Library Association (SEPTLA) and the New York Area Theological Library Association (NYATLA).
The cross-disciplinary work that characterizes the Seminary’s programs of instruction and research places the Library’s collection in a framework of interdependency, particularly with the Princeton University Library, that is only reinforced as time goes on.
Within the context of this reciprocity, the Library is intent on building a collection of distinction. A collection of distinction may be defined as one whose breadth and depth of resource far surpasses the basic quality necessary to support any part of an institution's educational program, with research depth being obtained in specific subject areas of interest and historical strengths. The goal of the collecting policy is to direct awareness and energy toward building such collections by simultaneously narrowing and intensifying the scope of what is collected, particularly through collaboration with Princeton
University, the Institute for Advanced Study and other theological libraries. The Latin American collection, a nationally recognized collection of depth, is a good example of this concerted collaborative effort in which the Seminary's collecting focus is on Latin American theology and the church, with the University focusing on human rights and social issues.
The Seminary's intent is to affirm responsible stewardship of resources, reduce unnecessary duplication, and increase access to a wider range of materials.
The Seminary also recognizes collecting directions at other institutions beyond Princeton which it does not seek to duplicate at the research or comprehensive levels: for example, the collection of the literature of new religious movements of the twentieth century at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley; the retrospective missiology collections at Columbia University/Union Theological Seminary and Yale University; archival collecting of Presbyterian materials at the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia; and the collection of the translation of Calvin into the languages of the world at Calvin Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids.
LEVELS OF COLLECTING
The Library's collection development policy, following standard guidelines of the American Library Association that are common to research libraries, prescribes six different levels defining the scope and strength of collections being developed in specific subject areas:
0: Out of scope. The library does not collect in this area.
1: Minimal Level. A subject area in which few selections are made.
2: Basic Information Level. A collection of up-to-date general materials intended to provide a basic understanding of the subject. Such a collection may consist of a dictionary, encyclopedia, handbook, and selected texts not sufficiently intensive to support any courses in the subject.
3: Instructional Support Level. A collection which is adequate to support professional or graduate instruction as required, usually consisting of major reference tools, the most important monographs, and some of the outstanding journals in the field.
4: Research Level. A collection which includes the major source material required for independent research. It includes all basic reference works, a wide selection of monographs, an extensive collection of journals, indexing and abstracting tools in the field, and may include unique or unpublished materials.
5: Comprehensive or Exhaustive Level. A collection which endeavors, so far as is reasonably possible, to include everything, published or unpublished, on the subject, and in all languages.
In addition to these collecting level codes, this policy also employs language codes to further specify the scope of collecting in specific subject areas:
E: English language material predominates with little or no foreign language material collected. F: Selected foreign language material included, primarily Western European, in addition to English language material.
W: Wide inclusion of foreign language material, in addition to English language material.
To gain a better understanding of these codes, it is useful to recall their origin and intent. These codes – the combination of a numerical value with a language suffix to indicate the depth and linguistic range of a collection – originated with the Research Libraries Group (RLG) in 1982 when the RLG Conspectus was developed to advance collaborative collection development and resource sharing. As a library consortium, RLG was interested in a framework for collecting activity that would provide some reliable measure of levels of subject coverage in member libraries as a basis for identifying collection strengths and weaknesses, reducing duplication, and distributing collecting responsibilities. The RLG Conspectus, with its descriptive collection levels associated with Library of Congress subjects, served this purpose. Its codes were not designed to signify rates of acquisition or growth or to allocate or measure expenditure but to define and assess the holdings of member libraries. It quickly became a widely used tool not only for assessment but for the formulation of collection development policy and its usefulness may still be seen in the collection development policies of many research libraries.
COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT PRIORITIES
The Library's collection development policy recognizes priorities for the building of the collection. The Seminary, as an institution in the Christian tradition, takes primary collecting responsibility for the literature of this tradition, with focus centered on content arising out of Christian life and thought. While the formative texts of other religious traditions are not ignored, they are not collected to the depth of Christian literature. The Library assumes special collecting responsibility for representations of this literature in the Presbyterian and Reformed traditions from which the Seminary’s history was formed.
The Library also collects reference materials and important monographs and journals in support of the instructional program of the Seminary and provides, as well, a minimal level of resources for students in selected areas where basic information is required. These priorities correspond to levels 3 and 1 mentioned above.
Corresponding to collecting level 4, the Library acquires materials necessary to sustain a research collection for fields in which the Seminary offers advanced research. The priority here at level 4 is on intensive collecting of primary resources in the original languages and in English translation, supported by an extensive array of secondary literature, both books and journals, as well as specialized works of reference. Intensive collecting at this level allows historic strengths within the collection to continue under development although not particularly required by the Seminary’s course of study at the present time. It also provides the basis for the Library’s emphasis upon intensive collecting in selected areas of Reformed research such as represented in the life and work of Karl Barth.
SELECTION CRITERIA
The identification and selection of materials to be added to the collections involve at least ten criteria that regularly inform the process:
whether the item falls within scope of the collection as defined by the collection development policy
whether the item contributes to improved strengthening of the collections in view of the Seminary's mission and programs and in view of the history of the collection
whether the item bears on formation for ministry
whether the item is of useful research value to theological fields of study at the Seminary
the character of the work as a primary or secondary text and the relation of the work to the textual corpus of the field and to scholarship in the field
importance of the work as a standard, critical, collected, revised, or variant edition of the text
the permanence of the work in terms of format and the ongoing costs of access
the relation of the work to documenting the record of Christian life and thought
the appropriateness of the work to the Seminary's defined levels of collecting (minimal, basic, instructional, research, comprehensive): what is the subject?; who is the author?; at what level is the work written?; is the work a general or specialized work of reference?; is the work originating from a publisher of established reputation; is the work duplicated at Princeton University?; does the work represent a category of material not being collected by other theological libraries and therefore at risk of neglect?; is the work a translation—if so, does the Library hold the original?; is the work a translation from one foreign language into another foreign language—if so, does it contain editorial commentary or critical apparatus?; what is the cost?
the nature of the material as born-digital and important to capture and preserve for future generations.
COURSES OF STUDY AND THE COLLECTION
BIBLICAL STUDIES
The Biblical Studies Department offers courses dealing with the interpretation and exegesis of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) and the New Testament in their historical and cultural contexts. There is focus on the Hebrew and Greek languages and on the related Semitic languages of Akkadian, Ammonite, Aramaic, Syriac, Moabite, Phoenician and Ugaritic. The archaeology and epigraphy of the ancient Near East is important to the work of the Department, including Egyptology and papyrology, as is early Judaic thought and literature, Hellenistic-Roman philosophy and religion, and postmodern developments.
Instruction is provided from the basic professional degree up through the Ph.D. Students may receive a Ph.D. with specialization in the Old Testament or New Testament.
In describing the collection which serves the Biblical Studies Department, it is important to recognize that the development of an extensive biblical collection has long been of first priority to the Seminary, beginning with those first three titles purchased in the first academic year, as already noted. Among the most prized materials on which this area builds are the 1476 printing of the Psalms commentary of the Spanish Dominican member of the Councils of Basel and Florence, Juan de Torquemada's Expositio Psalterii; the Postilla commentary of the French Franciscan exegete, Nicholas of Lyra, in a 1485 Latin Bible printing; and the 1516 edition of the Novum Instrumentu Omne of Erasmus. There are also other treasures, including Erasmus Schmid's ground-breaking Concordantiae of 1638, Johann Buxtorf's Lexicon Chaldaicum of 1639, and the important piece of the progenitor of modern Semitic studies, Albert Schultens, Institutiones ad fundamenta linguae Hebraeae. Among the many other valued works in the collection serving biblical studies, the close to 3,000 Akkadian clay tablets acquired in 1907 and 1915 are particularly noteworthy, with works of Assyriology having been important to the Library since at least 1874 when twenty volumes were given by Robert L. Kennedy.
Other printed rare works recently added that bear on the history of biblical interpretation in the sixteenth century include the Liber Psalmorum Davidis of 1546, containing the Latin translations of the Old Testament by Leo Jud, friend of Zwingli, and the notes of Francois Vatable, one of the first Christian Hebraists of Europe and Hebrew teacher of Calvin. From the Reformed tradition, the In Sacrosanctum Davidis Psalterium of Wolfgang Musculus in 1551 has been added as well as Calvin’s In Librum Psalmorum of 1557. The 1584 Commentarii in Omnes D. Pauli Apostoli Epistolas of Andreas Hyperius is also now represented in the collection.
Microform holdings which supplement these works include Early Printed Bibles and Critical Editions of the New Testament.
Electronic resources include Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary, Bible in English, Context of Scripture Online, Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, New Pauly Online, New Testament Abstracts, Old Testament Abstracts, Oxford Biblical Studies Online, Oxford Bibliographies Online: Biblical Studies, and Atla Religion Database with AtlaSerials PLUS. Primary sources include Clavis Clavium, Coptic Gnostic Library Online, Dead Sea Scrolls Electronic Library– Biblical and Non-Biblical Texts, Flavius Josephus Online, Loeb Classical Library, Patrologiae Graecae, Patrologia Latina Database, Patrologia Orientalis Database, Thesaurus Linguae Graecae, Translated Texts for Historians and the Vetus Latina Bible Versions of the Latin Fathers, in addition to selected online journals. Many full commentary series are also now available electronically through the Library including Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries, Hermeneia, International Critical Commentaries, and the Abingdon Old and New Testament Commentaries.
The biblical studies collection extends over numerous editions and versions of the biblical text in a wide variety of languages, supported by general and special bibliographies, dictionaries, encyclopedias, concordances, lexicons, grammars, introductions, commentaries, critical studies, journals, and databases. Additional supporting material is found throughout the collection in Judaica, the archaeology, language, and literature of the ancient Near East, and Egyptological and Hellenistic-Roman material.7
Materials in Bible are collected at the research level, with emphasis upon editions and versions of texts, exegesis, hermeneutics, and critical studies. Other materials cover the Essenes, Dead Sea Scrolls, Ebla, and related matters. Editions of pre-rabbinic and early rabbinic literature are emphasized.8 Nag Hammadi texts and studies, important for both biblical and church historical study, are aggressively pursued.
Research materials in Egyptology are selectively acquired as are Greco-Roman materials important for
7 It is a curiosity in the history of the collection that many valuable biblical and theological materials in the personal libraries of James H. Lenox and R. L. Stuart, both supporters and directors of the Seminary and avid book collectors, came not to the Seminary but ended up forming the nucleus of the religion collection at the New York Public Library, including the first Gutenberg Bible to come to the United States, purchased by Lenox in 1847. See Henry Stevens, Recollections of Mr. James Lenox of New York and the Foundations of His Library (London: Henry Stevens, 1886) and Sam Williams, Guide to the Research Collections of the New York Public Library (Chicago: American Library Association, 1975),
pp. 48, 56-57, 76.
8 Judaica collecting at the research level in Wright Library is selective. Judaica research collections at Princeton University and Jewish Theological Seminary should be consulted.
the understanding of first century Christianity. Other ancient Near Eastern materials are also selectively acquired, with emphasis on inscriptions and archaeological site reports from Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq.
Changing instructional and research emphases in biblical studies require particular care to ensure that the collection is keeping pace with these directions. Current emphases, for example, on geographical, ecological, literary, feminist, postmodern, Jewish, Islamic aspects of interpretation are taken into account in the collection although many works of research value must be left to the Princeton University Library.
There are some lacunae in the biblical studies collection, including some texts from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries important in the study of the rise of biblical criticism and the history of the biblical theology movement. Ammon's Entwurf einer reiner Biblischen Theologie of 1792 and Zachariae's Biblische Theologie of 1780 are two examples. Some European biblical literature that was difficult to acquire during the two world wars is also missing. The literature of biblical studies in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa is not as well covered as Western Europe. The materials representing Near Eastern backgrounds of the Old Testament also have noticeable gaps.
HISTORY & ECUMENICS
The History and Ecumenics Department has two areas of study — World Christianity and the History of Religion (WCHR) and the History of Christianity. Both are vital to the M.Div. and Ph.D. programs as students learn the inter-religious dimensions of Christianity from its earliest years to the present.
M.Div. students gain a broad perspective in the historical tradition. Students are required to take nine credits in the department, including Introduction to Christian History I, Introduction to Christian History II, and another history course in any of the following areas: Early and Medieval History, Reformation History, Modern European or American History, and World Christianity and the History of Religions, or Sociology of Religion.
The Ph.D. program in history and ecumenics offers two tracks: (1) History of Christianity, and (2) World Christianity and the History of Religions (WCHR).
At PTS, the history of Christianity is an integrative, interdisciplinary program that encompasses social, theological, institutional and cultural history of the world’s Christian communities, their ideas and practices. It also offers resources from related fields in the history of religions, history of worship, sociology of religion, missiology and ecumenism. The program’s goal is to train scholars to develop an area of specialization within a context of breadth, balancing particular interests with an attention to Christianity’s larger history and global expansion. Areas of specialization include Early Christianity and Its World, Medieval Christianity and Its World, Reformation and Its World, Modern Europe, and Modern North America.
The Department's instructional and research interests, as reflected in its course of study, center on the development of critical historical as well as social scientific methodologies; the life, thought, and worship of the Church in the early, medieval, and modern periods; women in the Church; African-American religious history; the sociology of religion and the relation of church, state, and society; the study of world
religions with particular focus on the non-Western religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam; and the world mission of the Church. The history and theology of Christian missions and the history and theology of Ecumenics are also subsumed under History and are approached through the Department's program in World Christianity. The study of Christianity in Africa and Asia is also central to the Department’s work as is that of Latin America.
Included in the holdings supporting the work of the History Department are specimens of incunabula such as Jerome’s Epistulae in a 1480 printing; an Italian humanist’s history of the popes printed in 1485, Bartolomeo Platina’s Vita Pontificum; and two Roman liturgical books from 1497, the Breviarium Traiectense and the Pontificale Romanum. Other rarities include early, and in some cases, first editions of the works of Bucer, Calvin, Melancthon, Osiander, and Reformed leaders such as Jean Turretini, Jean Daille, and Moise Amyraut.
Relevant rare additions to the collection include Heinrich Bullinger’s Sermonum Decades Duae of 1549 and his 1545 treatise on the eucharist, Warhaffte Bekantnuz der diener der Kirchen Zurich ; Johann Heinrich Heidegger’s Dissertationum Selectorum of 1673; Martin Bucer’s Grund und Ursach of 1524; and Melanchthon’s Alle Handlungen die Religion of 1542.
Patristic and medieval studies are able to draw upon important textual collections such as Migne's Patrologia given by Levi P. Stone in 1878 and the Acta Sanctorum, received from R. L. Stuart in 1880 - both available in print and digital format - supplemented now by other critical edition collections currently in publication such as the Corpus Christianorum and its digital version available in the Library of Latin Texts.9 A small collection of fifty Syriac manuscripts received in 1931 also supplements textual sources for the study of the eastern church. The 2,400 volumes of Puritan material received by gift in 1885 provide a rich textual base for the study of Puritanism. The study of theological controversies affecting English and American Christianity such as baptism and Unitarianism have several extensive pamphlet collections to draw upon, all recently enhanced by the addition of the private collection of James R. Tanis on the Great Awakening.
Historical and practical theological studies concerned with Christian liturgy and the role of church music are able to draw upon print sources in the Benson Collection of Hymnals and Hymnology, with some of these sources coming online at http://www.hymnary.org. in the digitization collaboration between Calvin College under the terms of their National Endowment from the Humanities grant and Wright Library.
Joint collaboration with the Princeton University Library in September 2010 resulted in a jointly funded dual-institution agreement with Edwin Rauner Verlag for subscription access to several databases supporting historical and hymnological studies:
9 Library development of patristic sources was adversely affected historically by the withdrawal of a collection of 2,438 volumes in 1838, described by Archibald Alexander as containing most of the writings of the Fathers. This collection, transferred to the Seminary in 1822 by the General Synod of the Associate Reformed Church and named the Mason Library in 1823 after John M. Mason, was the subject of property claim proceedings brought by the Associate Reformed Synod of New York in 1831, with the collection lost to Princeton University in 1838. See Minutes of the Board of Directors, 1822, 1823,
1831-1838. Glenn T. Miller’s statement, in his Piety and Intellect (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1990), p. 100 that Mason’s library “was later the core of Princeton Seminary’s library” requires qualification.
Analecta hymnica
Analecta carminum
Chevalier: Repertorium hymnologicum
Krämer: Scriptores possessoresque codicum
Krämer: Bibliothecae codicum
Petrarcae codices Latini
Bibliotheca scriptorum Latinorum
Additional databases were purchased outright in collaboration with the University:
British Archives Online
Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity Online
Church Missionary Society Periodicals, Modules I and II
Twentieth Century Religious Thought: Islam and Judaism
Research from a sociological as well as theological perspective on the churches and the broader societies of Latin America is supported by the extensive collection of theological sources in Spanish and Portuguese that include the important resource, The History of Religiosity in Latin America, generally known as the CIDOC Collection, supplemented by the Latin American collection at Princeton University Library. The microform collection, Early Printed Books on Religion from Colonial Spanish America, is also a useful departmental resource.
The literature of the ecumenical movement and major agencies such as the World Council of Churches is well covered. The history of Christian missions has historically been more selectively covered at the Seminary. Specific areas of mission literature such as documents and papers of various mission boards and agencies, urban industrial missions, agricultural missions, and medical missions are selectively present in the holdings but are not as extensively covered as at Yale University and the retrospective missions collection of Union Theological Seminary now held by Columbia University.
Current collecting strength in missions and ecumenics has been enhanced by the acquisition of several large microform collections such as the International Missionary Council Archives; the Council for World Mission Archives; Papers of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions; China Inland Mission, 1865-1951; the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Foreign Missions Correspondence and Reports; the Church Missionary Society Archives; and Dialogue with People of Living Faiths.
Religions of the Orient that are the particular focus of the course of study — Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam
— are represented by a modest working collection of texts, primarily in translation, supported by some research-level materials. The collection itself, however, cannot be characterized at the research level, given the vast textual base internal to each of these religious traditions.10
10 Research level collections in these religious traditions may be found at the Firestone and Gest Oriental Libraries, Princeton University (Islam); Columbia University; Cornell University (Buddhism, Taoism);
Library support for Islamic study at Princeton Theological Seminary deserves particular comment in the context of the shaping of the curriculum, the international prominence of Islam, the growth of Muslim communities in the United States, the importance of interfaith understanding, and the Seminary’s proximity to the Islamic collection at Princeton University.
While missionary instruction was first introduced with the curriculum of 1836-1837, courses of instruction under the rubric of History of Religion and Christian Missions first appeared in the curriculum of 1914-1915, with the first course on Islam introduced in 1923-1924.11 Separate courses on Islam have continued intermittently as the curriculum has evolved. This positive recognition of a place for Islam, as well as for other religious traditions of the world, in the curriculum has shaped a working collection focused on the Qur’an, Islamic theology, Muslim religious practice, and the religious and theological dimensions of Christian-Muslim relations.
Historically, Islamic collecting at the intensive comprehensive level in Princeton has proceeded, as it does today, under the aegis of the Near Eastern Studies Collections Program of the Princeton University Library. With the University Library as the primary location for Islamic research, the Seminary Library acquires materials selectively in support of instruction and comparative theological study.
The Library collects at the research level in the fields of church history, history of doctrine, worship, mission and ecumenics, and acquires selective research materials in the history of religions.
Individual, collected, and critical editions of texts by major and minor figures in the history of Christianity are included, together with biographies, bibliographies, secondary critical studies, and intensive coverage of periods, movements, ideas, and institutions in Christian context. Works representative of continuing historical interests in Coptic, Syriac, African, Asian, and American Christianity, the English and Scottish churches, and popular religious culture and devotion are collected at research level. The visual arts, including Christian art and architecture, have historically been more selectively covered, although the cross-disciplinary work implicit in the courses of study requires more focused attention on this field, including the modern period.
While the denominational focus of the church in the United States and Canada is at the research level, with increasing attention to local and regional church histories and materials related to churches in the state of New Jersey, the Library does not attempt to replicate the exhaustive documentary collecting occurring in varied denominational or ecclesiastical archives. As one example, the Library relies on archival collecting of Presbyterian materials at the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia.
Yale University; Harvard University; University of Michigan (Buddhism, Islam); University of Pennsylvania (Hinduism).
11 Catalogue of the Officers and Students of the Theological Seminary, at Princeton, New Jersey 1836-1837 (Princeton: Printed by John Bogart), p.11; Catalogue of the Theological Seminary of the
Presbyterian Church at Princeton, N.J. One Hundred and Third Year 1914-1915, pp. 41-42; Catalogue of The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church at Princeton, N.J. 1923-1924 One Hundred and Twelfth Year, p. 48.
Digital resources bearing on the work of the Department include texts in translation, texts in original languages, and other scholarly resources to aid research in this field. Texts in translation include the works of Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Martin Luther and others; the Coptic Gnostic Library Online, Loeb Classical Library, Translated Texts for Historians, and Twentieth Century Religious Thought Library, Volumes I (Christianity), II (Judaism) and III (Islam). Texts in original languages include Corpus Augustinianum Gissense; The Digital Library of Classic Protestant Texts; The Digital Library of the Catholic Reformation; Luther’s Werke; Patrologiae Graecae; Patrologia Latina; Patrologia Orientalis; Sources Chretiennes Online; Thesaurus Linguae Graecae; the Thomas Aquinatis Opera Omnia; and Vetus Latina and Library of Latin Texts - Series A and B. Other digital resources include Access World News Research Collection; American Religion: Denominational Newspapers; the Archive of Americana; Black Life in America, Series 1, 2 and 3; Bloomsbury Religion in North America | Theology and Religion Online; Brill's Medieval Reference Library Online; British Online Archives; Church Missionary Society Periodicals; Early American Imprints, Series I and II; Early American Newspapers, Series I, 1690-1876; History of Global Christianity Online; Index of Medieval Art; New Pauly Online; Oxford African American Studies Center; Oxford Art Online; Slavery in America and the World: History, Culture & Law; the World Christian Database; and the World Religion Database.
Lacunae in the historical collection include textual sources important to the study of Christian liturgy, especially liturgical texts from various denominations and Christian groups, as well as documentation covering the history of Protestant groups in countries such as England, France, Switzerland, and others.
Historical work is crucially dependent upon an extensive array of source documents. Some of this material, where held, is in poor physical condition, requiring replacement. The recent acquisition of the large Eighteenth Century Collections Online goes far in providing continued access to some of these important resources that might otherwise be lost.
The Library has been seeking to improve its holdings of primary sources related to eastern Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa and, in particular, Presbyterian and Reformed sources worldwide. One digital acquisition of note in this area is Brill’s Archives of the Presbyterian Church of Cuba Online.
THEOLOGY
The Theology Department incorporates the fields of systematic theology, Christian ethics, philosophy, and history of doctrine. Instruction is offered from the basic professional degree up through the Ph.D.
The teaching and research interests of the Department have a broad interdisciplinary range, extending not only over philosophy, theology, and Christian ethics, but also into areas of science, economics, black studies, literary theory, cultural hermeneutics, ethnicity, racism, moral action, religion in the public forum, public policy, women's studies, cultural anthropology, and medical ethics.
Philosophical and ethical materials for the Western tradition represent a particularly good working collection, supplemented by Princeton University’s intensive research level collecting in philosophy. Texts of individual philosophers and schools of philosophy are represented, in some cases both in the original language and in English translation. Ethical literature in other specialized dimensions — business ethics, bioethics, medical ethics — is at a basic working level.
While, for purposes of this policy, the Library of Congress classification of the literature of ethics does not observe all of the subtleties of the discipline, the Library has acquired and will continue to acquire materials that fall under the broad scope of ethics, including the history of ethics; moral philosophy and its history; social, religious, and Christian ethics.
Works in the philosophy of science as in other areas such as literary theory, cultural anthropology, economics, black studies, women's studies, and public policy are acquired selectively. Materials of a specifically religious or theological nature in any of these areas are collected at the research level.
With the introduction of aesthetics, philosophy of mind, philosophy of the arts, Scottish philosophy, political philosophy, and an international relations component of ethics in the Department’s range of concerns, the Library will acquire selected materials in these areas, recognizing that research-level depth in the subject-matter is represented at Princeton University.
Textual sources in the systematic tradition of theology are at the research level, with a heavy emphasis upon primary as well as secondary texts. Important systematic works in the collection include a 1468 printing of the Liber sententiarum of Peter Lombard and a 1499 piece of late medieval polemics, the Pharetra fidei catholci. Holdings of the major systematic statements from the earliest to the contemporary period are extensive.
Sources important to the Theology Department for the study of the history of Christian doctrine are concentrated across both the historical and doctrinal sections of the collection in the patristic, medieval, reformation, and modern periods. Textual collections referred to above under the History Department, including Reformed and Puritan materials, are a critical locus of research also for Theology and new editions of classical texts are acquired in support of such research. Microform resources referred to above under History also serve textual work in Theology, supplemented by digital works that, beyond those already mentioned, include Anselm’s Opera Omnia; Barth’s Kirchliche Dogmatik; Tillich Online; Bloomsbury’s Theology Library; the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Cambridge Companions to Philosophy, Religion and Culture; Oxford Scholarship Online: Philosophy and Religion; Philosopher’s Index; Index of Christian Art; and the third edition of Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart.
As a major Reformed center for teaching and research, the Library's continuing priority is to maintain and enhance the strength of its collections of primary texts supporting research in the history of Christian doctrine and enabling, specifically, a deeper understanding of the Reformed contribution to the life and thought of the church. The specialized collecting focus on Barth, discussed below under Special Collections, is a concrete instance of this effort.
Any policy consideration of lacunae in the collection supporting the work of the Theology Department would need to weigh the extent to which certain bodies of literature undeveloped in both the book and journal collection now require more extensive focus. Philosophy of science, business ethics, bioethics, and medical ethics are among these categories as are those areas recently introduced into the course of study under Philosophy. Original texts representing the Eastern Orthodox tradition in doctrinal theology
are not as prominent as the ecumenical conversation might require nor is the systematic literature of Eastern Europe, Asia, or Africa sufficiently extensive.
The hemispheric shift of Christianity to the South implies more rather than less broad-based concern for collecting theological literature in the vernacular languages from those areas of the world where Christianity is actively engaged and growing. This is also the case with materials from those geographical areas of the world where the Seminary has a noticeable history of involvement. While the Library does not have a strong cohesive history of the rigorous collecting of such literature in the vernacular languages from the Asian, African, and Pacific churches, it has been intensifying its efforts to collect such materials since at least 1968, focusing particularly on materials in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
PRACTICAL THEOLOGY
Practical theology explores the complexities of theory and practice, development of ability to read contexts as well as texts, the dynamics of embodiment and practice. The Department of Practical Theology encompasses the instructional areas of Education and Formation; Pastoral Care and Specialized Ministries; and Preaching, Speech Communication in Ministry, and Worship. Instruction goes from the basic professional degree to the Ph.D. Students may receive a Ph.D. in Christian Education; Pastoral Theology; and Homiletics.
The department is made up of three areas, which are designed to help students develop a theologically informed and skillful future ministry. Training in speech, communication, preaching, and worship prepares students to preach and teach with sensitivity and grace. Christian education offerings push students to teach effectively, foster dynamic learning and plan curricula. Pastoral care courses expand students' world-views and deepen their listening skills, and classes in congregational ministry help students understand the culture behind the churches they serve while reimagining the future. Field education and denominational polity are also offered, with denominational history, theology, and polity.
Students pursuing a ThM can pursue any of the areas within practical theology. Those pursuing an MACEF or MACEF/Dual Degree must focus on Christian Education and Formation.
The Ph.D. program in practical theology offers three tracks, which are designed to prepare students to teach at a seminary, college, or university. These include Pastoral Theology, Homiletics, and Christian Education. A majority of graduates go on to serve in many different capacities and institutional settings, including the parish.
It is clear from the course descriptions that the faculty works extensively in a wide range of fields that call upon an extensive body of literature: not only the traditional theological areas associated with Christian formation, congregational ministry, preaching, pastoral care, and the history of practical theology but also the areas of communication, rhetoric, hermeneutics, and text performance theory; educational research, philosophy of education, multicultural education and religious experience, and curriculum theory; psychology and psychology of religion; schools of psychotherapy; liturgy and hymnody; health care; gender; family, children, and youth issues.
Holdings for major figures and texts in psychology supporting the work of the Department represent a good working collection for instruction and include the works of Freud, Jung, Adler, Kohut, Rogers, Vygotsky, Winnicott, Erikson, and Piaget. Philosophy of education literature, communications literature, and other social science materials are selectively acquired. Key texts representing the psychology of religion and the literature of pastoral care and counseling are collected at the research level, although specialized psychiatric literature is acquired only on faculty recommendation. An exception to this, of course, is the so-called “connective and” literature: “psychiatry and religion,” “medicine and religion,” “health care and the church.”
None of the provisions of this policy preclude the selective acquisition of interdisciplinary publications falling outside Practical Theology proper, in cognate fields of import to teaching and research.
Publications of research value in many diverse fields that undergird and extend the Department's work may be selectively acquired. These fields include feminist and gender studies, curriculum and educational theory, psychoanalytic schools of thought and psychology in its nonclinical aspects, communication and rhetoric, management theory, bioethics, medical ethics, gerontology, health care, disability studies, spiritual formation, contemplative studies, virtue ethics, philosophy of social science, lived religion, youth ministry, ecology/theology/spirituality, congregational studies theory and methods, interdisciplinary works between theology and human sciences, and other areas. What the policy affirms with selective acquisition is an acknowledgment that the Seminary does not take primary responsibility for intensive research-level collecting of these non-theological areas of concentration, many of which are intensively collected at Princeton University.
The literature of practical theology -- the office and work of ministry, congregational life, mission and evangelism, homiletics and preaching, worship and hymnody – is at research level, with textual resources heavily on the side of the English language. Some rare items constitute an exception: Francois Turrettini’s Recueil de Sermons of 1687 is now represented in the collection, one hundred and fifty four years after James Waddell Alexander lamented being unable to locate a copy of the sermons. The 1695 Sermons sur les Sections du Catechisme des Eglises Reformees de France of Alexander More, the noted but controversial preacher of the French Reformed Church, is also among recent additions to the collection.
Collections of eighteenth and nineteenth century sermons, including those in the Sprague Collection, are an important part of these resources. Useful digital tools available for the study of sermons include the Repertorium der lateinischen Sermons des Mittelalters; The Sermons of Martin Luther; and The Words of Gardner Taylor, supplemented by the video series, Great Preachers.
Digital resources important to the Department’s work include Ministry Matters, Research in Ministry, Psychiatry Online, Psychology Database, and the Oxford African American Studies Center, in addition to the digital resources already mentioned above in Biblical Studies, History and Ecumenics, and Theology.
There is one rarity in the Library's holdings of particular importance to Practical Theology which should not be forgotten. That is the 1477 printing of the work of Antoninus, Archbishop of Florence, the Summa theologica, which has been characterized as the most comprehensive, if not the first, treatment of practical theology in the Middle Ages. What is perhaps the most important work on homiletics to come out of
sixteenth century Protestantism, the 1553 De Formandis Concionibus Sacris of Andreas Hyperius is held by the Library in the Reformed Protestantism microform collection.
The Charles G. Reigner Christian Education Collection discussed below (4.12) provides material in support particularly of Christian education at the congregational level.
There is at least one noticeable lacuna in the practical theology collection: sermonic literature which, despite selective coverage, has tended to be discounted and neglected. This neglect is somewhat difficult to rationalize in the presence of the integral relationship between theology and preaching.
RELIGION AND SOCIETY PROGRAM
The Religion and Society Program promotes interdisciplinary reflection that critically examines religious and social life. With “the religious” and “the social” as its two areas of focus, the program equips doctoral students with theoretical resources and diverse perspectives that enhance and deepen their theological studies and Christian practices in church and society. These areas of study are important for structuring the program’s conceptual field and its comprehensive exams.
M.Div. and Ph.D. students are equipped with theoretical resources and diverse perspectives that enhance and deepen their theological studies and Christian practices in church and society.
The collection supporting the Religion and Society Program draws particularly on materials in history, theology, ethics, and the social sciences in order to focus on the social and cultural aspects of religious history, experience, and theology. Works of social theory bearing on religion and theology are spread across several sections of the collection, based on Library of Congress practice. Works in Christian sociology that emphasize Christian social theory and the sociological analyses of particular denominations are also represented as are materials that cover the Church's specific efforts to deal with social problems. These are, in turn, supported by the historically valuable microfiche collection, Social Problems and the Churches: The Harlan Paul Douglass Collection of Religious Research Reports.
Historical and sociological interests in statistical data are supported particularly by two digital resources, the World Christian Database and the World Religion Database.
The major sociology collection is at Princeton University, with the Seminary Library acquiring only selected works in sociology proper.
DIGITAL COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT
Historically, Wright Library has devoted most of its collecting activity to the acquisition of current books and journals published in print. While print will continue to be collected, changing publication models and the need for increased access have added an emphasis on expanding acquisitions of digital resources. In a globally connected digital environment, the Library is called upon to harness technology to make more of the Library’s collection web-accessible. This reorientation presumes a growing collection not only of locally digitized materials but also of digital books and journals available from the current publishing market.
This policy indicates the directions the Library is taking to collect digital content. This content falls into two categories:
Purchased or licensed material such as digital books, digital journals, and databases. When acquiring digital books and digital journals, aggregated collections are preferred, but where aggregation is not possible, individual books and journals will be acquired.
Digital Books: Digital books are acquired and may be preferred over print if the following conditions apply:
terms and conditions permit multiple simultaneous usage
digital rights permit users to copy, download, and print
ease of access on or off-campus
single sign-on access permitted in place of individual user name/password
used for Course Reserves
Print may be preferred over digital if the following conditions apply:
release of the title in its digital version has been delayed
the image quality of the digital book is not adequate for teaching, learning, or research
conditions of use require the physical print book
Digital Journals: When a journal is published in both print and digital versions, the Library will follow a digital-preferred policy and subscribe only to the digital version unless one or more of the following conditions apply:
the print version contains more material than the digital
the quality of the images or graphics is poorer in the digital
the provider of the digital is consistently unreliable
availability of the digital in perpetuity is unassured
Databases: The Library provides a selection of databases essential to teaching, learning, and research in theology. Preference is given to databases that are web-accessible and that meet criteria of ease of navigation, stable availability, and single sign-on access.
Purchased or licensed digital content is expected to meet the same selection criteria that guide the acquisition of other content, supplemented by criteria specific to digital materials such as access and use issues, licensing requirements, and overall cost.
Where content is to be licensed, the Library will negotiate, as necessary, for the widest possible license and will comply with the licensing agreements, once negotiated, of publishers and/or vendors. In pursuing licensing agreements, the phrase “authorized users” of the Library is understood to mean all currently enrolled students, all current faculty, faculty emeriti, faculty emeritae, and all currently employed staff of the Seminary as well as on-site users of the Library. Where licensing agreements permit, “authorized users” also extends to alumni who have Seminary network identification.
License agreements should permit fair use of the material by authorized users of the Library, including unlimited viewing, downloading, and printing.
For purchased digital content, the Library has an interest in ensuring long-term access in perpetuity to such content. License agreements for such materials shall clarify archiving responsibility, and shall not prohibit the Library from making or obtaining digital copies of selected content for archiving.
Policy on digital collections reflects the Seminary’s concentration on religious and theological subject matter. Purchase, subscription, or licensing decisions favor digital book and digital journal collections and databases where the primary orientation is religious or theological. Digital works from other disciplines, while of considerable interdisciplinary significance, are selected much less frequently, given the heavy concentration of such resources at Princeton University.
The scope or extent of religion and theology coverage in any given digital work remains primary and explains why certain databases are selected and others are not, even if those selections duplicate the University’s digital holdings.
Databases and digital books and journals are purchased, licensed, and provided by Wright Library and by the University Library solely for their own constituencies and not in conjunction with each other’s constituencies. Access to these databases is governed by a legal framework of publisher-controlled agreements that define the allowable user group. While this definition may allow access to any “walk-ins” who have physical entry to the Library buildings of either institution, the definition tends to exclude
non-constituents of the institution from offsite access, making Seminary offsite access to University databases presently unfeasible.
Local content digitized, as copyright law permits, from the Library’s holdings.
In 2008, with external funding from Microsoft, the Library began a digitization partnership with the Internet Archive. In spite of Microsoft’s subsequent termination of its digitization agreements, the Seminary continued the program, with the goal of increasing open access to theological collections. This ongoing partnership has resulted in the digitization of tens of thousands of books and bound periodicals from the Library’s collection, all freely available for searching and reading through the Seminary’s Theological Commons website at https://commons.ptsem.edu as well as through the Internet Archive at https://archive.org/details/Princeton. In 2013, a $1.5M grant from the Henry Luce Foundation led to the digitization of thousands of audio recordings and archival materials as well as books and periodicals.
In 2019, Wright Library began exploring Controlled Digital Lending (CDL):
Properly implemented, CDL enables a library to circulate a digitized title in place of a physical one in a controlled manner. Under this approach, a library may only loan simultaneously the number of copies that it has legitimately acquired, usually through purchase or donation. For example, if a library owns three copies of a title and digitizes one copy, it may use CDL to circulate one digital copy and two print, or three digital copies, or two digital copies and one print; in all cases, it could only circulate the same number of copies that it owned before
digitization. Essentially, CDL must maintain an “owned to loaned” ratio. Circulation in any format is controlled so that only one user can use any given copy at a time, for a limited time. Further, CDL systems generally employ appropriate technical measures to prevent users from retaining a permanent copy or distributing additional copies.12
CDL offers Wright Library a way to leverage its rich print collection to make content more widely available to its authorized users with the hope that increased access will lead to increased usage.
Out-of-copyright materials from the Library’s collection are digitized in partnership with Internet Archive and posted in Theological Commons. Newer digital publications are licensed through the publisher or vendor when possible. CDL can provide digital access to texts that fall between those two periods. Since the program’s inception, Wright Library has digitized approximately 4,500 books published between 1927-1989.
Wright Library follows these criteria when selecting candidates for CDL:
Books must be published in the United States
Books must be non-fiction and of a scholarly character, e.g., academic monograph, edited volume of academic essays, biblical commentary. No fiction or poetry will be included.
Wright Library must own multiple copies of the book.
For every digital version of a book circulating under CDL the physical copy of that book will be taken out of circulation and stored securely such that users will not have access to it.
Wright Library also employs the following Takedown Policy. Rightsholders who prefer that Wright Library should not lend their book through CDL may email the Library at: library@ptsem.edu.
THE LATIN AMERICAN COLLECTION
The Latin American Collection is a specialized research focus of the Library’s collections which received added impetus in the early 1970s with the donated library of John A. Mackay. Mackay, who was President of Princeton Theological Seminary from 1936 to 1959 and who has been described biographically as “a bridge between two Americas” was an influential missionary and educator in Peru, Uruguay, and Mexico from 1916 to 1932 during which time he acquired a number of publications eventually given to the Library. While these materials have enriched the Latin American Collection, the growth of the collection has been maintained on the basis of current budget and acquisition.
The Latin American Collection is dispersed throughout the Library’s general collection and is representative of religious and theological materials from and about Latin America and covers Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. Holdings are estimated at over 23,000 books in Spanish and Portuguese and 1,300 periodicals. These materials are supplemented by digital collections including the CIDOC Collection: The History of Religiosity in Latin America ca 1830-1970, a
12 L. Bailey et al, “Position Statement on Controlled Digital Lending by Libraries” (2018). Online at: https://controlleddigitallending.org/statement. Last accessed: April 2, 2019. Cf. D. R. Hansen and K. K. Courtney, “A White Paper on Controlled Digital Lending of Library Books” (2018). Online at: https://controlleddigitallending.org/whitepaper.
significant set of primary sources which is based on the collection begun by Ivan Illich at the Center for Intercultural Documentation (CIDOC) Library of Cuernavaca. There is some limited database support of the collection through The Handbook of Latin American Studies. Taken together, these materials illustrate the rich tapestry of religious thought and practice in Latin American culture and provide important aid to teaching and research.
The Library’s collecting concentration on religion and theology in Latin America has been developed in coordination with the extensive Latin American collection at Princeton University which focuses on the broader cultural range beyond religion and theology.
MEDIA
The media collection within the Library represents an instructional-level collection containing some primary source material for research as well as more popular material that can be used in Christian education. Its intended function is to provide a further category of material that will assist the Seminary’s educational goals and enhance existing collections.
In addition to the general selection criteria discussed above that cover print as well as non-print materials, the following guidelines currently apply to media selection: the preferred format for spoken word audio is compact disc; the preferred format for film is DVD; media material produced outside North America are to be compatible for use in the United States, i.e. NTSC for VHS and Region One for DVD.
When collecting media, it is necessary to recognize that all physical media will likely become obsolete in the near future. Streaming digital content is already superceding CDs and DVDs, as those types of content have superceded cassettes and VHS tapes.
Acquisitions for the physical media collection will likely be made only on the basis of patron demand for research or curricular material, or when in-scope material is offered as a donation to Wright Library.
MICROFORM COLLECTION
The Microform Collection consists of microfilm, microfiche, and a small set of microcards. The collection numbers over approximately 600,000+ items and contains a diverse body of filmed material representing books, journals, newspapers, dissertations, pamphlets, papers, and reports. Some of the large sets of microform have printed guides which are shelved in the Reference Collection and may be located through the Library’s catalog. Important accessions include Incunabula: The Printing Revolution in Europe 1455-1500 with units on Academic Theology, Bibles and Commentaries, Liturgy, and Sermons; Irenical Theology: Heidelberg 1582-1622; The Italian Reformation; and Korean Mission Records.
REFERENCE COLLECTION
The Reference Collection is intended to provide wide-ranging, in-depth access to a representative body of materials, with a reference work being defined as any work of authoritative expression which is frequently consulted or which should be available as needed.
Materials which may be included in the Reference Collection are directories, yearbooks, abstracts, indexes, bibliographies, collective biographies, concordances, dictionaries, encyclopedias, handbooks, lexicons, companions, commentaries, collections of primary texts, and standard texts in any field. Among these materials, select works of scholarly importance or particular works under heavy demand may be duplicated such as heavily used commentaries, lexicons, dictionaries or regularly used collected works.
The Library has responded to the dramatic growth in digital reference sources by making selected reference aids available online. Some of these works have already been mentioned; others include the Chicago Manual of Style Online; Oxford English Dictionary; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global: The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection; Oxford Reference Online; Routledge Reference: Religion; and The Cambridge Companions to Philosophy, Religion and Culture. These sources are augmented by other active links on the Library’s web page connecting students and faculty to additional specialized resources.
THE CHARLES G. REIGNER CHRISTIAN EDUCATION COLLECTION
The Charles G. Reigner Christian Education Collection, previously located in Tennent Hall, and relocated to the Library in 2004, was opened in 1953 for the purpose of serving specific needs of the School of Christian Education. The library of the Tennent College of Christian Education, which became part of the continuing tradition of the Seminary when the School of Christian Education was inaugurated in 1944, formed the basis of the Reigner Collection which now contains about 3,000 print and non-print items.
While the contours of this collection have, from time to time, included a wide variety of literature, the collection is presently focused on practical material with emphases on
church-sponsored programs of Christian education, such as denominational curricula and intergenerational materials, youth ministry, and adult Bible study.
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
The Special Collections of Wright Library rank among its finest achievements. Special Collections is the term applied to the Seminary’s collections of non-circulating primary source and rare materials that are housed in a secure closed stack area under environmentally controlled conditions and used on-site in a monitored Special Collections Reading Room. Special Collections was established to carry forward the Seminary’s long-standing interest in collecting, making accessible, and preserving sources of unique significance and in fostering critical and independent analysis of such sources.
The Special Collections and Archives department of the Wright Library acquires rare books, manuscripts, archival material, art, artifacts, ephemera, audio/visual material, and digital objects that serve the pedagogical and historical mission of Princeton Theological Seminary. The items held within the department support the research and teaching needs of the Seminary faculty and students, alumni, academic researchers, and interested members of the public. The items held within Special Collections
and Archives support learning at the Seminary through access via instructional activities, research projects, and individual study.
The primary sources and rare materials that make up Special Collections and Archives are characterized by strengths in Reformation and Post-Reformation writings, with a particular focus on Puritan sources; eighteenth and nineteenth century American and British theological imprints, including controversial literature of the period focused particularly on Baptist and Unitarian controversies; and the Benson Collection of Hymnology, one of the premier collections of Christian hymnody in North America.
Additional areas of focus and concentration are detailed below. Materials added to Special Collections and Archives are intended to build upon these strengths of the collection, though new collecting areas may be added in response to changing research and pedagogical needs of the Seminary and its faculty and students.
New materials are acquired through purchase, donation, and internal transfer within the Seminary. Purchases are made using funds within the Library as well as monetary donations from friends, supporters, and alumni. Acquisition decisions are made by Special Collections and Archives staff in conjunction with Library administration.
Areas of Acquisition for Collection Development
Archival Collections
Official Seminary materials, including official papers, records, reports, documents, and correspondence of its officers and offices, constituent bodies, committees, faculty, alumni, and other noted individuals.
Papers of prominent persons associated in some manner with the Seminary, the Presbyterian, or Reformed Churches may also be collected.
Missionary-related materials from Presbyterian missionary work worldwide; in particular missionary work done by PTS alumni.
Rare Print Materials
General collection materials include books and pamphlets printed anywhere before 1801; American and European imprints before 1820; and books and pamphlets printed after 1820 which are selectively included based on provenance, scarcity, or physical condition.
Early American religious publications (eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) including, but not limited to: missionary-related materials; Presbyterian publications and related materials; American and European religious subjects (such as Puritan and Nonconformist theology, Unitarian Controversy, Baptists, and the Great Awakening)
First and other early editions of theological works of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (mostly European); sixteenth century editions of the church fathers, increased
coverage of all first editions of the major and minor Reformers, first editions of works of Reformed Orthodoxy, collected editions of the works of theologians up through the nineteenth century, editions and printings of liturgical texts, catechisms, creeds and confessions of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches.
Incunabula of early printed religious texts, in areas that support theological study as outlined in previous bullet
British and American Puritan literature
Hymnals of the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries (American and European)
European pamphlets of religious communication, instruction, and controversy particular to of the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries.
Manuscript Materials
Manuscripts that support the same collecting areas as outline in “Rare Print Materials” above; examples include, but are not limited to, Presbyterian documents, early editions of theological works, works of the major and minor Reformers, documents of religious devotion and study, and hymnals/hymnody.
Material Culture
Art
§ Photography, paintings, drawings, sculpture, and other fine art pieces that reflect the history, mission, and pedagogical aims of the Seminary. This includes all artwork owned by Princeton Theological Seminary, both on display and within Special Collections and Archives. This also includes art from the Overseas Ministries Study Center (OMSC), which supports artistic voices within the world Christian movement through collaboration with artists-in-residence at the Seminary.
Artifacts
§ Non-artistic, man-made objects that reflect the history, mission, and pedagogical aims of the Seminary. These can include clothing, jewelry, furniture, medals, tools, archaeological material, etc. that reflect the history of Presbyterian work and worship, including missionary work. Special Collections and Archives does not ordinarily or actively seek to collect artifacts to add to the collection.
Current facilities, staffing, and resources do not allow for additions to this part of the collection at present.
Audio/Visual Material
Physical
§ Audio and visual recordings on tape, vinyl, CD, DVD, or other physical formats that reflect the history, mission, and pedagogical aims of the Seminary. These items are often, but not exclusively, connected to archival collections.
Digital
§ Digitized and born-digital objects that reflect the history, mission, and pedagogical aims of the Seminary. These items may include digital surrogates of existing physical objects owned by PTS and housed in Special Collections and Archives.
Among the specific strengths of the research collections are the following:
Archives and Manuscripts
Archival and Manuscript sources collected by the Library include the Seminary’s official papers, records, reports, documents, and correspondence of its officers and offices, constituent bodies, committees, faculty, alumni, and other noted individuals. Papers of prominent persons associated in some manner with the Seminary, the Presbyterian, or Reformed Churches may also be collected.
Records and papers of religious organizations, bodies, groups, or agencies will continue to be acquired.
Individuals and organizations for which the Library is a manuscript repository include Emile Cailliet, Justo L. Gonzalez, Charles Hodge, Josef L. Hromadka, Sheldon Jackson, John A. Mackay, James I. McCord, Carl McIntire, Samuel Miller, Samuel H. and Eileen F. Moffett, Robert Hamill Nassau, Robert E. Speer, Gilbert Tennent, Thomas F. Torrance, Benjamin B. Warfield, the Academy of Homiletics, the American Theological Society, Christians Associated for Relationships with Eastern Europe, and the Consultation on Church Union (COCU).
A searchable database of over 350 guides to manuscripts located in Special Collections can be found at https://princetonseminaryarchives.libraryhost.com.
Incunabula
A small collection of nearly forty titles printed before 1501 is held in Special Collections, the earliest being 1468: Peter Lombard’s Liber Sententiarum. Printers represented among these titles include Anton Koberger of Nurenberg, Steffen Arndes of Lubeck, Wolf Han (Lupus Gallus) of Rome, and Johannus Rubeus Vercellensis of Venice.
Material Culture Collection
Special Collections has historically been a repository not only of printed material but of objects of material culture, including several thousand cuneiform tablets, furniture, art, and memorabilia associated with the Seminary, its faculty, and in some cases, its alumni and donors.
This policy outlines the principles which guide the Library’s acquisition of objects of material culture for its collection. Here the scope of collecting is limited and is determined by the Library’s primary role within an educational institution focused on the disciplines of theology. All material objects offered or proposed for addition to the Library should be relevant to the Library’s stated mission of support for theological teaching, learning, scholarship and research.
To qualify for consideration, an object or a collection of objects must meet the following conditions:13
The Library must be able to curate collections of material objects and provide appropriate conservation treatment and storage according to accepted museum practices.
The Library will not purchase or accept as a gift any object or collection of objects without considering the object’s provenance. Sellers or donors or their representatives are required to supply documentation or confirmation regarding ownership of the object. In the absence of such information, the Library will exercise due diligence to establish the legal status of an object under consideration for acquisition, making every reasonable effort to investigate, substantiate, or clarify the provenance of the object. Like many museums, the Library recognizes that some objects may not be accompanied by detailed provenance and, in such circumstances, the Library reserves the right to exercise its best judgment in deciding for or against acquisition.
Following accepted museum practice and adhering to the date of the UNESCO Convention, the Library shall not normally acquire objects of antiquity unless ownership history or the Library’s own judgments about ownership history substantiate that the objects were outside their country of origin before November 17, 1970 and were legally imported into the United States or were legally exported from their country of origin after November 17, 1970 and were legally imported into the United States.14
13 These conditions draw on the Association of Art Museum Directors, Guidelines on the Acquisition of Archaeological Material and Ancient Art (revised 2013), https://aamd.org/sites/default/files/document/Guidelines%20on%20the%20Acquisition%20of%20Archae ological%20Material%20and%20Ancient%20Art%20revised%202013_0.pdf and on the American Alliance of Museums (formerly the American Association of Museums), Collections Stewardship, http://aam-us.org/resources/ethics-standards-and-best-practices/characteristics-of-excellence-for-u-s-muse
14 The UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (adopted November 14, 1970; signed November 17, 1970), http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13039&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Oral History Collection
A small but growing collection of oral history focused on Seminary, Presbyterian and Reformed history has been developing under the aegis of Special Collections and will be continued.
Rare Book and Pamphlet Collections
The Library’s Rare Book and Pamphlet Collections, developed through gift, purchase, and transfer of materials from the Library’s circulating collection, draw together materials that because of age, scarcity, printing history, provenance, monetary or aesthetic value, are given special status and care. These materials include books and pamphlets printed anywhere before 1801; American and European imprints before 1820; and books and pamphlets printed after 1820 which are selectively included based on provenance, scarcity, or physical condition.
Several historically formed collections of rare books and pamphlets bearing the names of collectors, benefactors, or originating agencies have shaped the scope of Special Collections and give the Library’s collecting program a well-defined and limited focus. These include the William Sprague Collection of Early American Religious Pamphlets, the first of which were received in 1838; the Missions Collection of the Society of Inquiry given in 1852; the Baptist Collection of Samuel Agnew received among other Agnew gifts from 1854 to 1881; the A. B. Grosart Library of Puritan and Nonconformist Theology received in 1885; the Pamphlet Collection of Elias Boudinot; a collection of the Presbyterian Board of Publication; Pamphlets on the Unitarian Controversy; the James R. Tanis Collection on the Great Awakening; and the Thomas F. Torrance Collection on Scottish Reformation Theology.
Areas of greatest strength in these special holdings include first editions of theological works of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, British and American Puritan literature, hymnals of the eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries, and the “pamphlet” as a printed form of religious communication, instruction, and controversy particular to the literary pattern of the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries.
The Library actively seeks donors who will contribute to these collections which continue to be augmented and added to through gift and purchase. Supplemental enhancement of these collections is sought in the addition of sixteenth century editions of the church fathers, increased coverage of all first editions of the major and minor Reformers, first editions of works of Reformed Orthodoxy, collected editions of the works of theologians up through the nineteenth century, editions and printings of liturgical texts, catechisms, creeds and confessions of the Presbyterian and Reformed Churches.
Reformed Research Collections
Special Collections maintains four research collections that document significant theological traditions of the Presbyterian and Reformed churches in the United States, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Korea. Comprising thousands of volumes, each of these collections is also supported by primary source materials housed in Special Collections. Together, these materials
provide a rich context in which to study aspects of the American Presbyterian, Korean Presbyterian, Swiss Reformed, and Dutch Reformed traditions.
The Princeton Theological Seminary Collection
The Princeton Theological Seminary Collection brings together materials that document the history of the Seminary, including its faculty, administrators, and alumni, including current and former student groups. Works about Princeton Theological Seminary and by those associated with it are represented along with books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, denominational minutes, histories, biographies and journal articles which put the Seminary in historical context.
Journals whose publication has figured prominently in the history of the Seminary have been digitized and may be found in the Theological Commons at
https://commons.ptsem.edu/pts-journals.
The Moffett Korea Collection
The Karl Barth Collection
The Karl Barth Collection has as its intention the acquisition, organization, and preservation of materials, published and unpublished, by and about Karl Barth (1886-1968), a leading theologian of the Reformed tradition in the twentieth century. This Collection shares space with the Center for Barth Studies (CBS), a center devoted to providing a space for Princeton Theological Seminary patrons, visiting scholars and students, pastors, and lay persons to engage with the work and legacy of Karl Barth both in person and online. Typical programming for CBS includes research, translation, publication, bibliography, and international conferences, and collaborations.
The Library will continue, as it effectively has for over one hundred years, to collect Barth-related materials but under the following guidelines:
One copy of all known materials not presently held, published and unpublished, in any languages and formats, and from any part of the world by and about Karl Barth, will be acquired and located in Special Collections. Materials by Karl Barth published in English and German will be added in a second copy to the open stack collection. Significant materials about Barth, usually in English or German, will be added in a second copy to the open stacks.
The Dutch Reformed Collection
This Collection supports the study of the Dutch Reformed tradition and its history. Materials within the Dutch Reformed Collection come in large part from the Abraham Kuyper Collection, which consists of published and unpublished materials by and about Abraham Kuyper
(1837-1920), a Dutch Calvinist theologian and statesman. These materials were complemented by the purchase of microfilm copies of the Abraham Kuyper Archief from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. In addition, the acquisition of two private collections—the library of George Puchinger in June 1999 and the library of Tjitze Kuipers in May 2006— has made the Dutch Reformed collection one of the most comprehensive in the world.
OTHER POLICY CONSIDERATIONS AND GUIDELINES
DISSERTATIONS AND THESES
Effective 2013, the Library collects one print copy of all Ph.D. dissertations completed at Princeton Theological Seminary to be stored in Special Collections under the XD call number. Previously, the Library collected two print copies, but online access and storage has reduced this need. The print copy is intended primarily to serve patron requests, including onsite review of materials in Special Collections and duplication through scanning for distance and ILL requests. Online access to Princeton Theological Seminary Dissertations and Theses from 1997 forward is provided by Proquest through its database ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global: The Humanities and Social Sciences Collection.
In the absence of openly accessible digital dissertations, print copies of dissertations from other institutions are selectively acquired on recommendation of the faculty and as required for graduate research.
Print copies of foreign dissertations and theses related to Karl Barth are acquired whenever possible in the absence of a digitally accessible copy.
Open access to full-text dissertations and theses throughout the world has been expanding and now includes the following:
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (https://ndltd.org/) and its European Working Group, DART-Europe (https://www.dart-europe.eu/basic-search.php)
Open Access Theses and Dissertations (https://oatd.org/)
Theses Canada (https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/services/theses/Pages/theses-canada.aspx)
DUPLICATE COPIES
Selected works may be duplicated between the Circulating Collection, the Reference Collection and Special Collections if the need to do so can be clearly demonstrated.
FACULTY RELATIONSHIP TO COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT
The development and maintenance of a collection of quality is very much dependent on faculty interaction with the Library. Recommendations from faculty are encouraged and solicited. Faculty routinely suggest purchases that augment the Library’s collections..
GIFTS
Princeton Theological Seminary is the beneficiary of a long-standing tradition of gifts of religious and theological material, which have added value to its library collections over many years. The Library's collecting policy affirms the continuance of this tradition and solicits unrestricted gifts of books, periodicals, pamphlets, manuscripts, ephemera, and other research materials that enhancing the value of the Library’s existing collections, support the Seminary’s programs, and are within the scope of this collection development policy. All gifts of materials must be without conditions or restrictions. Any exception to this provision must be approved by the James Lenox Librarian prior to the receipt of the collection.
In preparation for receiving gifts of books or other materials (referred to as gifts-in-kind), the Library encourages donors to provide an inventory of materials including the name, dates, and general condition of the material. If gifts are accepted, it should be understood that, upon receipt, the Seminary becomes the owner of the material and, as such, reserves the right to determine the gift’s retention, location, cataloging treatment, and other considerations related to the gift’s use, maintenance, or removal/disposition.
Normally, donors are expected to provide monetary support for gift processing and the costs of maintaining, over time, the material donated to the Library.
Donors are normally responsible for arranging delivery of materials to the Library and are expected to sign a Deed of Gift. Donors wishing to have their materials evaluated for income tax purposes are required to do so independently of the Seminary prior to the transfer of the materials to the Library.
PRESERVATION
As a research collecting institution, Princeton Theological Seminary is a preserving institution committed to the long-term persistence, management, and use across centuries of the content it owns and continues to gather for access. The preservation of the Library's collection remains a matter of the first priority, drawing on a history of concern for the stewardship of resources evident from the Library's formative years. In May 1823, just eleven years into the shaping of the collection, Archibald Alexander was authorized to spend up to $100 for book repair, and in 1890, R. L. Stuart and A. Stuart were providing funds “for preserving books from injury and decay.”15 The seriousness of this decay was most noticeably documented by the 1976 study of monographs at the Library in which 83% and 67%, respectively, of volumes published 1860-1899 and 1900-1939 were found with the text blocks so brittle as to preclude rebinding.16 Efforts to preserve the collection through rebinding, xerographic replacement, and
15 Minutes of the Board of Trustees, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1823 and 1890.
16 Louis Charles Willard, “An Analysis of Paper Stability and Circulation Patterns of the Monographic Collection of Speer Library, Princeton Theological Seminary,” in Essays on Theological Librarianship Presented to Calvin Henry Schmitt. Edited by Peter De Klerk and Earle Hilgert (Philadelphia: American Theological Library Association, 1980), p. 166.
reformatting to microform and digital form are costly but necessary efforts and such means of preservation form an important part of this collecting policy.17
Paper-based materials located in the Library’s collections will continue to receive preservation and conservation treatment, including cleaning, stabilization, binding, housing, and digitization.
The Library’s preservation needs, with respect to both its legacy print collection and its evolving digital collections, require a series of costly commitments and actions that are only reasonably achievable through multi-institutional collaborations and partnerships. PTS must increasingly commit itself to participation in such multi-institutional endeavors as HathiTrust, Academic Preservation Trust, and other related efforts.
STAFF DEVELOPMENT
The development of a world-class library requires a staff focused on increasing their knowledge and expertise. A part of the Library’s goal is to advance library staff development by acquiring materials that can contribute to the staff’s ability to keep abreast of developments in the library profession and their areas of specialization in support of service to the Seminary.
FUNDING
Collection development policies have financial implications and the ongoing development and preservation of the Library’s collections suggest a need to review the appropriate level of library endowment support they require. Securing new monies that will provide long-term financial support for Wright Library, its collections, and services, remains perhaps the surest way to bring the policy to the desired level of success.
The challenge of newly endowing a comprehensive library vision is a tension inherent in the policy. Yet if the Library is to maintain a robust state of health, additional ways must shortly be found to fund necessary growth, development, and maintenance of the Library’s collections and services. The virtue of a written collecting policy is that it affords the institution an opportunity to structure its collecting priorities and it makes very clear the need for choices.
While recognizing the constrained financial situation increasingly facing institutions of higher education, including the Seminary, three realities are nonetheless clear regarding the Library and the cost implications of its revised collecting policy:
17 A collaborative initiative which has implemented preservation concerns of this policy is the preservation microfilming of 134 Latin American periodicals from the Seminary’s holdings, in cooperation with Princeton University and the Seminar on the Acquisition of Latin American Library Materials (SALALM). On August 30, 2002, the Center for Research Libraries announced that this project had surpassed the production of 500 reels of microfilm at a cost of over
$100,000 funded by SALALM.
Attention to new sources of revenue in support of the Library is essential if the Library is to be successful in meeting the demands of the collecting policy.
If the Library is to successfully meet the demands faced by the organization of digital content into the Library collection, then alternatives ways to this end should be carefully explored, reducing print acquisition, and re-directing funds or providing additional allocations for digital collection development.
The scale of investment that is required to sustain simultaneous research-level collecting of print and digital forms calls attention to one of the decision points in the policy.
Any new collecting directions associated with the Seminary’s programs of instruction and research will require an institutional assessment of continuing library costs.
SUBJECTS, WITH LEVELS OF COLLECTING
Column designations below are as follows. The LC Class Equivalents refer to the Library of Congress arrangement by which the collection is cataloged and shelved. The Collection Data column refers to the Seminary and to Princeton University by means of the symbols, PTS and PU, respectively. The Collection Data column also combines two codes, one numeric and the other alphabetic, both of which are discussed above (pp. 3-4). The numeric codes refer to the levels of collecting intensity practiced by the Library:
O: out of scope 1: minimal level
2: basic information level 3: instructional level
4: research level
5: comprehensive, exhaustive level
The alphabetic codes indicate the extent of language coverage within the collection: E: primarily English language
F: selected foreign language coverage in addition to English W: wide foreign language coverage in addition to English
Example: 4W means wide coverage of foreign and English language materials collected at the research level.
LC Class Equivalents | Subject Group | PTS | PU |
A | General Works | ||
AC | 1. Collections | 4W |
AE | 2. Encyclopedias | 2E | 4W |
AG | 3. Dictionaries and other general reference books | 2E | 4W |
AI | 4. Indexes | 2E | 4W |
AY | 5. Yearbooks | 2E | 4W |
AZ | 6. History of Scholarship | 2E | 4W |
B-BJ | Philosophy | ||
B1-68 | 7. Periodicals, Societies, Congresses, etc. | 2E | 4W |
B108-626 | 8. History and Systems, Ancient | 3E | 4W |
B630-708 | 9. History and Systems, Alexandrian and Early Christian | 4F | 4W |
B720-765 | 10. History and Systems, Medieval | 3F | 4W |
B740-753 | Arabian and Moorish, Islamic | 3E | 4W |
B755-759 | Jewish Philosophers | 2E | 4W |
B765 | European Philosophers | 3F | 4W |
B770-785 | 11. History and Systems, Renaissance | 2E | 4W |
B790-5802 | 12. History and Systems, Modern (1450/1600-) | 3F | 4W |
B840 | Philosophy of Language | 3E | 4W |
BC | 13. Logic | 1E | 4W |
BD95-131 | 14. Metaphysics | 2E | 4W |
BD143-237 | 15. Epistemology | 2E | 4W |
BD240-265 | 16. Methodology | 2E | 4W |
BD300-450 | 17. Ontology | 2E | 4W |
BD493-701 | 18. Cosmology | 2E | 4W |
BF | Psychology | 2E | 4F |
BF173-175.5 | 19. Psychoanalysis | 2E | 4F |
BF309-499 | 20. Consciousness, Cognition | 2E | 4F |
BF501-635 | 21. Motivation, Affection, Will | 2E | 4F |
BF636-637 | 22. Applied Psychology | 2E | 4F |
BF697-697.5 | 23. Differential Psychology, Self, Personality | 2E | 4F |
BF699-711 | 24. Genetic Psychology | 2E | 4F |
BF712-724.8 5 | 25. Developmental Psychology | 2E | 4F |
BH1-301 | 26. Aesthetics | 3E | 4W |
BJ1-1725 | 27. Philosophical Ethics | 3F | 4W |
BJ1188-1295 | Religious/Christian Ethics | 4F | 4W |
BJ2010-2019 | 28. Religious Etiquette | 3E | 3W |
BL-BX | Religion | ||
BL41 | 29. Study of Comparative Religion | 4F | 4W |
BL51-54 | 30. Philosophy and Psychology of Religion | 4F | 4W |
BL60 | 31. Religion and Sociology | 4W | 4F |
BL175-290 | 32. Natural Theology | 4F | 4W |
BL239-265 | Religion and Science | 4F | 4W |
BL300-325 | 33. Mythology, Comparative Mythology | 3F | 4W |
BL425-490 | 34. Religious Doctrines (Nature Worship, etc.) | 3F | 4W |
BL458 | Women in Comparative Religion | 4F | 4W |
BL500-547 | 35. Eschatology | 3F | 4W |
BL550-619 | 36. Worship, Cults | 4F | 4W |
BL660 | 37. Mysticism and Principles of Religion | 4F | 4W |
BL685 | 38. Ural-Altaic Religion | 1E | 3F |
BL700-820 | 39. Classical Religion and Mythology | 3F | 4W |
BL830-875 | 40. Germanic and Norse Religion and Mythology | 2F | 3W |
BL900-915 | 41. Celtic Religion and Mythology | 2F | 3W |
BL930-935 | 42. Slavic Religion and Mythology | 2F | 4W |
BL1100-1295 | 43. Hinduism | 3F | 4W |
BL1300-1380 | 44. Jainism | 2E | 3W |
BL1500-1590 | 45. Zoroastrianism | 2F | 3W |
BL1600-1695 | 46. Semitic Religions | 4W | 4W |
BL1830-1883 | 47. Confucianism | 2F | 4W |
BL1899-1942 | 48. Taoism | 3F | 4W |
BL2000-2032 | 49. South Asian Religions | 2F | 4W |
BL2200-2240 | 50. Southeast Asian Religions | 2F | 4W |
BL2216 | 51. Shinto | 2F | 4W |
BL2400-2490 | 52. African Religions | 2F | 4W |
BL2420-2460 | Ancient Egyptian Religion | 3F | 3W |
BL2500-2592 | 53. American Religions | 2F | 4W |
BL2510-2532 | North America (except Mexico) | 2F | 4W |
BL2550-2560 | Mesoamerica, Caribbean | 2F | 4W |
BL2580-2592 | South America | 2F | 3W |
BL2600-2630 | 54. Oceanic Religions | 2F | 2W |
BM1-990 | 55. Judaism | ||
BM1-65 | Periodicals, Yearbooks, Societies, Directories | 3F | 4W |
BM70-135 | Study and Teaching, Religious Education | 1E | 2F |
BM165-178 | Ancient History | 4F | 3F |
BM180-185 | Medieval History | 2E | 4W |
BM190-199 | Modern History | 2E | 4W |
BM201-449 | History by Country, Region | 2E | 4W |
BM480-509 | Pre-Talmudic and Talmudic Jewish Literature | 4F | 3W |
BM510-518 | Midrash | 3F | 4W |
BM525 | Cabala | 2E | 4W |
BM600-645 | Dogmatic Judaism | 2E | 4W |
BM650-659 | Practical Judaism | 1E | 2F |
BM660-679 | Liturgy and Ritual | 2F | 4W |
BP1-253 | 56. Islam | 3F | 5W |
BP140-157 | Islamic Law | 2E | 5W |
BP300-420 | 57. Bahaism | 2E | 3W |
BP500-610 | 58. Theosophy, Anthroposophy | 2E | 3W |
BQ1-9800 | 59. Buddhism | 3F | 4W |
China | 3F | 4W | |
Japan | 3F | 4W | |
Korea | 3F | 3W |
India | 3F | 3W | |
BR1-1725 | Christianity | 4W | 3W |
BR60-67 | 60. Early Christian Literature, Church Fathers | 4W | 4W |
BR100-114 | Philosophy and Psychology of Christianity | 4W | 1E |
BR130-134 | Christian Antiquities, Archaeology | 4W | 3W |
BR135-136 | Christian folklore, myths, superstitions, etc. | 4W | 3W |
BR140-1510 | 61. Christianity: Church | ||
History | 4W | 3W | |
Early and medieval | 4W | 3W | |
Renaissance | 4W | 3W | |
Reformation and Counter-Reformation | 4W | 3W | |
History by Country, Region | 4W | 3W | |
BR1690-1725 | 62. Christianity: Biography | 4W | 3W |
BS1-2970 | Bible | 4W | 3W |
BS1-355 | 63. Bible: Texts and Versions | 4W | 3W |
BS11-115 | Early Versions | 4W | 3W |
BS125-355 | Modern Texts and Versions | 4W | 3W |
BS315-355 | Non-European Languages | 3W | 3W |
BS410-680 | 64. Works about the Bible | 4W | 3W |
BS476 | Hermeneutics, Exegesis | 4W | 3W |
BS482-534 | Commentaries, Criticism | 4W | 3W |
BS535-537 | Bible as Literature | 4W | 3W |
BS543 | Theology of the Bible | 4W | 3W |
BS701-1830 | 65. Old Testament | 4W | 3W |
BS1901-2970 | 66. New Testament | 4W | 3W |
BT10-1480 | Doctrinal Theology | 4W | 2W |
BT82.7 | 67. Black Theology | 4W | 2W |
BT83.55 | Feminist Theology | 4W | 2W |
BT83.57 | Liberation Theology (and Latin American Church) | 4W | 2W |
BT738 | 68. Christian Sociology | 4W | 3W |
BT990-1010 | 69. Creeds, Confessions, Covenants, etc. | 4W | 2W |
BT1029-1040 | 70. Catechisms | 4W | 2W |
BT1095-1255 | 71. Apologetics, Evidences of Christianity | 4W | 2W |
BT1313-1480 | 72. History of specific doctrines and movements, Heresies and schisms | 4W | 2W |
BV1-5099 | Practical Theology | 4W | 0 |
BV5-530 | 73. Worship (public and private) | 4W | 0 |
BV150-168 | 74. Christian Symbols and Symbolism | 4W | 2W |
BV169-199 | 75. Liturgy and Worship | 4W | 1W |
BV205-287 | 76. Prayer | 4W | 0 |
BV301-530 | 77. Hymnology | 4W | 0 |
BV590-1652 | 78. Ecclesiastical Theology | 4W | 0 |
BV598-603 | 79. The Church | 4W | 2W |
BV625 | 80. Church and Society, Church and Community | 4W | 2W |
BV629-631 | 81. Church and State | 4W | 3W |
BV646-651 | 82. Church Polity | 4W | 0 |
BV659-683 | 83. Ministry | 4W | 0 |
BV700-707 | 84. Parish, Congregation, The Local Church | 4W | 0 |
BV800-873 | 85. Sacraments, Ordinances | 4W | 0 |
BV900-1450 | 86. Religious Societies, Associations, etc. | 4W | 0 |
BV1460-1615 | 87. Religious Education | 4W | 1E |
BV2000-3705 | 88. Missions | 4W | 3W |
BV3750-3799 | 89. Evangelism | 4W | 0 |
BV4000-4470 | 90. Pastoral Theology | 4W | 0 |
BV4070 | 91. Princeton Theological Seminary | 4W | 3E |
BV4200-4317 | 92. Preaching, Homiletics, Sermons | 4W | 0 |
BV4485-5099 | 93. Practical Religion, The Christian Life | 4F | 0 |
BV4800-4897 | 94. Works of Meditation and Devotion | 4F | 0 |
BX | Christian Denominations | 4W | 3W |
BX1-9 | 95. Church Unity, Ecumenical Movement | 4W | 3W |
BX100-189 | 96. Eastern Churches, Oriental Churches | 4F | 3W |
BX200-754 | 97. Eastern Orthodox Church | 4F | 2W |
BX800-4795 | 98. Roman Catholic Church | 4F | 2W |
BX820-839 | Councils | 4F | 2W |
BX850-875 | Documents | 4F | 2W |
BX1746-1755 | Theology, Doctrine, Dogmatics | 4F | 2W |
BX1970-2175 | Liturgy and Ritual | 4F | 2W |
BX2325-2333 | Saints | 4F | 3W |
BX2400-4556 | Monasticism, Religious Orders | 4F | 3W |
BX4650-4705 | Biography | 4F | 3W |
BX4716.4-47 95 | Dissenting Sects | 4F | 2W |
BX4800-9999 | 99. Protestantism | 4W | 2W |
BX4827 | Karl Barth | 4W | 2F |
BX4872-4924 | Pre-Reformation | 4W | 2W |
BX4929-9999 | Post-Reformation | 4W | 2W |
BX4929-4946 | Anabaptists | 4F | 2W |
BX5001-6093 | Anglican Communion | 4F | 2W |
BX6101-6193 | Adventists, Millerties | 4F | 2W |
BX6195-6197 | Arminians, Remonstrants | 4F | 2W |
BX6201-6495 | Baptists | 4F | 2W |
BX6801-6843 | Christian Reformed Church | 4F | 2W |
BX7101-7260 | Congregationalism | 4F | 2W |
BX7301-7343 | Disciples of Christ, Cambellites | 4F | 2W |
BX7451-7493 | Evangelical and Reformed Church | 4F | 2W |
BX7601-7795 | Friends, Society of Friends, Quakers | 4F | 2W |
BX8001-8080 | Lutheran Church | 4F | 2W |
BX8101-8143 | Mennonites | 4F | 2W |
BX8201-8495 | Methodism | 4F | 2W |
BX8551-8593 | Moravian Church | 4F | 2W |
BX8601-8695 | Mormons | 4F | 3W |
BX8762-8780 | Pentecostals | 4F | 2W |
BX8901-9225 | Presbyterianism | 4W | 2W |
BX9301-9359 | Puritanism | 4F | 3W |
BX9401-9640 | Reformed or Calvinistic churches | 4W | 2W |
BX9751-9793 | Shakers | 4F | 1E |
BX9881-9883 | United Church of Canada | 4F | 2W |
BX9884-9886 | United Church of Christ | 4F | 2W |
Other Denominations | 4F | 2W | |
CN750-753 | 100. Christian Inscriptions, Early | 4F | 4W |
CT21-9998 | 101. Biography | 3F | 4W |
D1-893 | 102. History (General) | 2F | 4W |
D51-95 | 103. Ancient History | 2F | 4W |
D111-203 | 104. Medieval History | 2F | 4W |
D204-893 | 105. Modern History | 2F | 4W |
D900-1075 | 106. Europe (General) | 2F | 4W |
DA1-995 | 107. Great Britain | 2F | 4W |
DAW1001-10 51 | 108. Central Europe | 2F | 4W |
DB1-879 | 109. Austria | 2F | 4W |
DB901-999 | 110. Hungary | 2F | 4W |
DB2000-3150 | 111. Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic | 2F | 4W |
DC1-947 | 112. France | 2F | 4W |
DD1-901 | 113. Germany | 2F | 4W |
DE1-100 | 114. Greco-Roman World | 2F | 4W |
DF10-951 | 115. Greece | 2F | 4W |
DG11-999 | 116. Italy | 2F | 4W |
DH1-925 | 117. Netherlands/Low Countries | 2F | 4W |
DJK1-77 | 118. Eastern Europe (General) | 2F | 4W |
DK1-9495 | 119. Russia and Former Soviet Union | 2F | 4W |
DK4010-480 0 | 120. Poland | 2F | 4W |
DL1-991 | 121. Northern Europe, Scandinavia | 2F | 4W |
DP1-900 | 122. Spain, Portugal | 2F | 4W |
DQ1-851 | 123. Switzerland | 2F | 4W |
DR1-741 | 124. Balkan Peninsula | 2F | 4W |
DS67-79.9 | 125. Iraq (Assyria, Babylonia, Mesopotamia) | 3F | 4W |
DS80-90 | 126. Lebanon (Phoenicia) | 3F | 4W |
DS92-99 | 127. Syria | 3F | 4W |
DS101-151 | 128. Israel (Palestine) | 3F | 4W |
DS153.7-154. 55 | 129. Jordan | 3F | 4W |
DS327-329.4 | 130. Central Asia | 2F | 4W |
DS331-349.9 | 131. Southern Asia | 2F | 4W |
DS421-486.8 | 132. India | 2F | 4W |
DS488-490 | 133. Sri Lanka | 2F | 4W |
DS501-519 | 134. East Asia | 2F | 4W |
DS527-530.9 | 135. Burma | 2F | 4W |
DS561-589 | 136. Thailand | 2F | 4W |
DS591-599 | 137. Malaysia | 2F | 4W |
DS611-649 | 138. Indonesia | 2F | 4W |
DS651-689 | 139. Philippines | 2F | 4W |
DS701-799.9 | 140. China | 2F | 4W |
DS798.92-79 9.9 | 141. Taiwan | 2F | 4W |
DS801-897 | 142. Japan | 2F | 4W |
DS901-937 | 143. Korea | 2F | 4W |
DT1-3415 | 144. Africa | 2F | 4W |
DT68-69 | 145. Egyptian Antiquities, Religious and Christian | 3F | 4W |
DU80-398 | 146. Australia | 2F | 4W |
DU400-430 | 147. New Zealand | 2F | 4W |
E11-143 | 148. America (General) | 2F | 4W |
E151-839 | 149. United States | 2F | 4W |
E185 | 150. Black Churches | 4F | 3E |
F144 | 151. Princeton, New Jersey | 3E | 4F |
F1001-1035 | 152. British America, Canada, Newfoundland | 2F | 4W |
F1170 | 153. French America | 2F | 4W |
F1201-3799 | 154. Latin America, Spanish America | 2F | 4W |
HD6338 | 155. Church and Labor | 4F | 3E |
HF5386-5387 | 156. Business Ethics | 2E | 3E |
HM-HX | 157. Social Sciences: Sociology | 3F | 4W |
HN30-39 | 158. Church and Social Problems | 4F | 3E |
HQ767.25 | 159. Christianity and Abortion | 4F | 3E |
HQ1394 | 160. Women and Christianity | 4W | 3E |
HT913 | 161. Christianity and Slavery | 4F | 3E |
HV5175 | 162. Religion and Alcoholism | 3E | 2E |
HX536 | 163. Religion and Socialism | 4F | 3E |
JC11-628 | 164. Political Theory | 3F | 4W |
JX1901-1991 | 165. Peace Literature | 3F | 4W |
K25 | 166. Ecclesiastical Law | 4F | 2E |
K3242 | 167. Rights of Religious Minorities | 4F | 3E |
K3258 | 168. Freedom of Religion | 4F | 3E |
K3280-3282 | 169. Church and State | 4F | 3E |
LC251-775 | 170. Moral and Religious | 3E (moral) | 3E |
Education | 4F (religious) | 2E | |
LD4580-4629 | 171. Princeton University | 3E | 5W |
M1999-2199 | 172. Sacred Music | 4F | 2E |
ML2900-327 5 | 173. Criticism of Sacred Music | 4F | 2E |
N7832-7840 | 174. Christian Art, Early | 4F | 4W |
NA4790-6113 | 175. Church Architecture | 4F | 3F |
PA695-895 | 176. Greek, Biblical | 4F | 3F |
PJ1481-1989 | 177. Egyptian Literature: Inscriptions | 3F | 4W |
PJ2001-2199 | 178. Coptic | 4F | 4W |
PJ3001-3097 | 179. Semitic Philology | 4F | 4W |
PJ3101-4091 | 180. East Semitic Languages | 4F | 4W |
PJ4101-4197 | 181. West and North Semitic Languages | 4F | 4W |
PJ4564-4581 | 182. Hebrew, Biblical | 4F | 4W |
PJ5201-5329 | 183. Aramaic | 4F | 4W |
PJ5401-5909 | 184. Syriac | 4F | 4W |
PN46 | 185. Religion/Theology/Literature | 3F | 4F |
Q173-180 | 186. Philosophy of Science | 3E | 4W |
QH332 | 187. Bioethics | 3E | 4F |
R724-726 | 188. Medical Ethics | 3E | 4F |
RC455.4 | 189. Religion and Psychiatry | 4F | 2E |
Z7751-7865 | 190. Religious Bibliography | 4F | 3E |
DEACCESSIONING
Wright Library is an academic research library aiding in the mission and vision of the Seminary through its acquisition of collection materials to be used in support of scholarship and curriculum. As such, some of its holdings need to be reviewed periodically to evaluate their continuing alignment with this purpose. Deaccessioning in an academic research library is a rare event. Most of the collection will be maintained and preserved as an important testament to theological literature and as an aid to scholarly and curricular pursuits. However, at times, it is necessary to remove items. Some possible reasons for deaccessioning items from the general collection include condition (damaged, brittle, etc.), obsolescence (especially in the case of technology like VHS tapes or CD-Roms), currency (especially relevant for practical guides), format, and scope. Use is not typically a criterion appropriate to evaluate an item’s place in an academic collection, but it can become another important reason for withdrawing an item if it also fails in other categories. The library has a responsible redistribution network including organizations such as the Theological Book Network (which supports theological libraries in the Majority World), Better World Books, and other library partners. A very small portion of material that simply cannot be distributed elsewhere is responsibly removed.