Spotlight » Theological libraries

Top Ten Contest winner

Andy Keck — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:09:50 +0000

Thank you for submitting your favorite reasons to come to the Divinity School Library in our recent Theological Library Month contest. The 2009 winner was doctoral student Maria Doerfler for her entry “… by year 3 of your Duke career, you might actually be able to find your way from Folios to Front Desk without a trail of breadcrumbs.”

Other entries included:
Brad Acton

You might get to talk to Brad Acton.

You can faithfully live into the social gospel by caring for the homeless guy that sleeps in the quartos…seriously.

Andy Keck can turn your Coffee Cup into a fully functional Macbook Pro.

Being in the stacks when the bell rings at 10:50PM can make you question your understanding of theodicy.

Cheri Benjamin

My reason for being here is to interact with other like minded folks.

Wes Brown

I can enter as many times as I like!

Brian M. Bryant

because it is the same space where many great theologians, ministers and leaders, those of today and yesterday, have studied, worshiped and wrestled in and with the great calling from above.

Johann Choi

because… I work here. If I didn’t show up, I’d probably get fired.

Blake Daniel

nowhere else can I hang out not just with Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, and Calvin but also Lewis, Bonhoeffer, Wright, and Hauerwas — all in one building!

I like living on the edge when I pass through the angry metal detector on my way out…

I love printing for (virtually) free!

Maria Doerfler

… by year 3 of your Duke career, you might actually be able to find your way from Folios to Front Desk without a trail of breadcrumbs.

… seeing your friends’ status updates on Facebook is simply no substitute for the camaraderie of the Reference Room!

Wesley Johnson

Only the Divinity School Library has the York Room–a once solemn and holy place of worship, now a solemn and holy place of study.

Ches Kennedy

Luba is here!

Todd Maberry

of the theological conversation taking place on the wall of the bathroom in the sub-basement.

Eric Meckley

Service with a smile.

monopoly money pays for the printer.

come for the books, stay for the people.

Emily Scales

guitar lessons are being offered. We have the books and now a guitar to share the gift of music with the world!

Hannah R. Terry

It’s the one stop shop. Searching for Wesley’s sermons? Looking for a secluded reading nook in the stacks? Have 56 pages of reading for CH13 and need a stapler that can do the trick? or want a hug? Look no further.

Celia Wolff

…I can’t afford to buy all the books I need to use, and the Divinity School Library has almost all of them. The Divinity Library also takes purchase suggestions, and is a convenient pick up location for interlibrary loan requests.

…the York Room, with its neo-Gothic woodwork and lamps and heavy, dark-stained tables, feels like a place of ancient sacred learning, and it might rub off on people who study in it. Some days one could even imagine that it’s Hogwarts.

…there’s a steady rotation of beautiful art exhibits, like Debra Band’s illuminated Psalms.

…between the books, periodicals, electronic resources and”most of all” the people, there’s no better place on campus to pursue theological research.

Theological Library Month – Top Ten Contest

Andy Keck — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:55:37 +0000

During Theological Library Month (October), we ask you to submit your favorite reason to come to the Divinity School Library. Deadline is October 25th. Entries will be read and winners announced at the TLM reception on Thursday, October 29 at 12:30pm and used in the library’s 2010 Fall Orientation for New Divinity Students.

Below is the list used at the 2009 Fall Orientation (with last year’s winner at number #4).

#10. Of the stellar collection: over 380,000 books, 700 periodicals, 100 electronic databases — and still growing!!

#9. There is excellent reference service — available in person, by phone, by e-mail, or by instant message.

#8. Printing from our computers is not 10 cents a page, not 5 cents a page, but free for your first 3600 copies. Please help us keep this free through being good stewards of the paper and the trees the paper came from. We have several copies of the Bible that you may check out of the library — there is no need to print out the whole thing.

#7 It’s the greatest place on campus to work — see Melissa or Anne Marie at the Circulation Desk for an application form.

#6. We’re open for the best 85 hours a week – Monday to Thursday 8 am to 11 pm, Friday 8 am to 5 pm, Saturday 10 am to 6 pm, Sunday 2 to 10 pm—See the website for our shorter hours for the first week of classes.

#5. We have computers. On the main level we have 12 public computers with access to the library catalog, databases and the network. The library also has a private computer classroom with 10 PCs hidden on Level D. If you bring your own laptop we have wireless available throughout the library and in the Duke Gardens.

#4. As Top Ten contest-winner from last year Ismael Ruiz-Millan said “In addition to Goodson Chapel, it is the place where I can be in one spirit with my other fellow students—in the first in the spirit of worship and in the second in the spirit of learning.”

#3. You get to see the world while studying the Book of Discipline – check out the view from the Baker Methodist Research Center!

#2. We’re better than Google – we’re warm-blooded! Doing theological research by using the internet alone is really dumb. Remember: if it’s not there, you can’t find it!

#1. THE STAFF!

October is Theological Libraries Month

Luba Zakharov — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:51:40 +0000

Established by the American Theological Library Association, Theological Libraries Month (TLM) highlights the vital role libraries and librarians play in theological education. Now an annual October event, this year we have planned a number of events to celebrate the month:

Debra Band, acclaimed Hebrew manuscript artist, is exhibiting her collection, “I Will Wake the Dawn: Illuminated Psalms,” in the Divinity School Library and the Freeman Center for Jewish Life through October 18, 2009. The reception in the Divinity School Library on September 30^th was an early kick off to the 2009 Theological Libraries Month.

October 1st: The “Top Ten Reasons Why” (I should come to the Divinity School Library) contest begins. Enter the contest from the library website. Winners and prizes will be announced after Dr. D. Moody Smith’s remarks at the Library Workers Hall of Fame event on October 29^th (see below).

October 21^st, 5pm, Westbrook 0014: Come to the screening of Pavel Lungin’s 2006 film, The Island (Ostrov), winner of 5 Nika awards – the Russian Oscars – including, Best Film. It is a story of reconciliation and self forgiveness. Cosponsored by Duke University Libraries and the New Creation Arts Group. A panel discussion will follow. “I cannot believe such a wondrous thing exists. It was like watching (the book), The Way of the Pilgrim.” (Lil Copan). Popcorn will be served.

The Divinity School Library “Student Worker Hall of Fame” is an honor bestowed on graduates of Duke who, as students, worked in the Divinity School Library. This list includes the Rev. Dr. Marie Fortune, founder of the Faith Trust Institute and an ordained pastor of the United Church of Christ, Dr. Jerry Campbell, President and Professor of Theological Bibliography at Claremont School of Theology and an ordained Elder of the United Methodist Church, and Dr. D. Moody Smith, George Washington Ivey Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Duke University Divinity School. Join us for a special event in the library on October 29at 12:30pm to hear Dr. D. Moody Smith talk about working in the library as a student, ‘back in the day.’ We will close the month long celebration by announcing the winners of the 2009, ‘Why I should come to the Divinity School Library.’ contest.