Author Archives: cloverodgers

Steps towards equality in New College Library Class Photographs

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A guest post by Chloe Elder, New College Library Special Collections Digitisation intern

From the depths of New College Library’s archives, a selection of class photographs from 1857 to 1930 has been digitised and uploaded to the Open Books website, accessible at openbooks.is.ed.ac.uk. The photographs show the students and staff of New College’s past, each of whom make up a part of the School’s long history. You may recognise, for example, Principal Robert Rainy, who lends his name to the College’s Rainy Hall, sat front and centre of every photo during his time as principal from 1874 to 1900. And behind Rainy and succeeding principals stand rows of students, ascending the same courtyard steps that today welcome over 400 undergraduate and postgraduate students to the School of Divinity.

New College Library Class Photo Winter Session, 1923-1924

New College Library Class Photo Winter Session, 1923-1924

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Digital video resources for Divinity

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I’ve been following up from student feedback questions  following library induction sessions last week, and one really interesting one has been about library access to digital video recordings.

The Library has recently purchased access to the large and comprehensive online streaming video resource Academic Video Online from Alexander Street Press. Containing over 50,000 recordings overall, it currently lists 324 videos on ‘Religion & Thought’ – and that’s just the start.

Academic_Video_Online_pic

Academic Video Online allows you to create and share playlists and create clips, permalinks are also available to embed or link to from other sites. Transcripts are available for many videos and these can be searched. Continue reading →

Open Access Journals for Religious Studies

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We’ve recently added some new open access journals for Religious Studies to DiscoverEd, aiming to make what’s freely available online as discoverable as possible for University of Edinburgh students.

SouthAsianist

These include the South Asianist, which is produced by the University of Edinburgh, to inspire critical debate on social, environmental, linguistic, religious, political and economic issues in South Asia. Continue reading →

Global journals for World Christianity

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The University of Edinburgh subscribes to a wide range of academic journals for the School of Divinity, but we’re also active in making the most of open access journals that are freely available on the web. Anabaptist Witness is one of these, and has recently been added to DiscoverEd. This journal aims to provide global Anabaptist and Mennonite dialogue on key issues facing the church in mission.

Anabaptist Witness

Korea Presbyterian Journal of Theology has also recently been added to DiscoverEd. Available in Korean and English, this journal aims to create academic discourse for theology that is evangelical and Biblical, is Reformed and ecumenical, and focuses on the Korean, Asian and global contexts in theological discourse.

KPJTChristine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – Divinity

 

New Digital Collections for Divinity in 2016

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We’ve been able to purchase several new digital collections to support the School of Divinity in 2016. All of the below are accessible via http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/databases-a-z and via the Divinity subject guide http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/subject-guides-divinity

Brepols Database of Latin Dictionaries

Data­base comprising a large number of Latin dictionaries to assist translation from Latin into modern languages and to provide semantic and etymological explanations.

China, Culture & SocietyChina, Culture & Society

Digital collection of rare pamphlets (c. 1750-1929) from Cornell University Library creating a very rich source for research on China, addressing Chinese history, religion, culture, and everyday life. Continue reading →

Digital explorations in New College Library : James Kirkwood’s vision today

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A guest post from Chloe Elder – New College Library Special Collections Digitisation Intern

Considering the ease with which most of us have access to information, it can be easy to forget the long way society has come in its efforts to provide resources for the public. For example, I’ve written this post on my very portable laptop in my Wi-Fi enabled flat and with my iPhone in constant peripheral vision. As we all know, before the days of the internet, our search for information required a trip to the library, but public libraries as we know them today did not exist before the middle of the nineteenth century. In the centuries preceding, the library has evolved from storehouses for records and archives, to ecclesiastical and academic cloisters, and the private collections of the elite and learned. And beginning in the late seventeenth century history, history saw a shift from the relative seclusion of these repositories toward a trend that supported the public dissemination of knowledge. One pioneer in this effort in Scotland was James Kirkwood, who is best known for his determination to provide Bibles to the parishes of the Scottish Highlands and for advocating for the establishment of parish libraries throughout Scotland in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.

James Kirkwood's signature. MSS KIR, New College Library

James Kirkwood’s signature. MSS KIR 3.1, New College Library

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ATLA – You’re more than a database to me! #ATLA2016

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I arrived in Long Beach on Tuesday 14 June, after a 22 hour journey, and checked into the conference hotel at Long Beach, California. I was there to attend the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) conference 2016, and I was fortunate enough to have the support of my institution, the University of Edinburgh, and a professional development grant from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals Scotland.

View from my hotel window

View from my hotel window

My key objective was to share New College Library Edinburgh’s unique story and talk about our recent work unwrapping its hidden collections through cataloguing projects in my conference paper. I was also keen to experience the wider library, information and knowledge sector context of theological libraries in the US, as many of the postgraduate students I meet come from the USA. Learning about collection management in theology and religious studies was also important, particularly raising my awareness of new digital resources in theology and religious studies. Finally I wanted to hear more about the US approach to library projects, including partnership working and working with decision makers. Continue reading →

Last chance to see! Given in Good Faith : Scripture

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The Given in Good Faith exhibition, which highlights some of New College Library’s treasures in the context of the exhibition themes of church history, worship, scripture and science is now in its final weeks at the Centre for Research Collections. If you haven’t been to see it, now is the time before it closes on 29 July!

New College Library’s collections reflect the essential place that the study of scripture has always held in the New College curriculum, as well as the study of Biblical languages to allow first hand engagement with Biblical texts. Complementing the Biblical texts are Biblical commentaries, from the Christian and the Jewish faith communities, in both printed and manuscript form. This is the first page of an illuminated Hebrew manuscript known as Rashi’s Commentary on Deuteronomy. Rashi was Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (1040-1105), an acclaimed French medieval scholar, whose explanations of scriptures were valued for their precision and simplicity.

Yitzchaki, Shlomo. Commentary on Deuteronomy, undated. MS BOX 25.2

Yitzchaki, Shlomo. Commentary on Deuteronomy, undated. MS BOX 25.2

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Mission to the Middle East : discovering collections

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This week New College Library welcomes delegates of the 2016 conference of the Yale-Edinburgh Group on the History of the Missionary Movement and World Christianity.

I’ve been discovering that New College Library’s unique collections include some fascinating materials from the Church of Scotland’s development of missions to Jews in the Middle East, in the nineteenth century. In particular we hold books, archives and objects relating to Rev. Andrew A. Bonar and Rev. Robert Murray McCheyne, and a selection of items from these collections are now on display in the New College Library entrance. Bonar and McCheyne were appointed by the Church of Scotland in 1838 as part of a deputation to visit Jewish communities in Europe and the Middle East, with a view to future mission activity. Continue reading →

New College Library welcomes the General Assembly 2016

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New College Library welcomes attendees of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which will take place between 21 and 27 May 2016.

New College Library

Church of Scotland visitors to the Library are encouraged to apply for a free reference access card, for which photographic ID, proof of address and colour passport-size/style photograph is required. If you are applying for a reference card you may fill in the application form online before visiting the library, and you can check the online library catalogue, DiscoverEd, in advance of your visit. Borrowing access is also available, please ask Helpdesk staff for details. Alumni of the University of Edinburgh are entitled to additional library benefits, including free borrowing and access to JSTOR online journals.

Both reference access and alumni library cards entitle the holder to use not only New College Library but all of the University of Edinburgh libraries, including the Main Library at George Square. This year General Assembly visitors may be interested to visit the Given in Good Faith exhibition being held at the Main Library’s Centre for Research Collections. This highlights some of the treasures of New College Library, through themes of church history, worship, science and scripture which would have been familiar to the staff and students of New College in 1843.

Giveningoodfaith

Researchers wanting to trace previous discussions of this year’s debates can consult the Reports to the General Assembly or Blue Books, which are held in New College Library at sLX 50 B.  This year’s Blue Book is available to download from the Church of Scotland website.  For further information on Church of Scotland resources see Researching the Church of Scotland at New College Library.

New College itself will be very busy during this period, with all of the teaching rooms occupied by the Assembly. This includes the David Welsh Reading Room in New College Library which is being used for Assembly purposes. Library users are advised to carry their UoE staff/student card with them at all times as there may be a security presence at the entrance to New College.

Christine Love-Rodgers – Academic Support Librarian, Divinity