The David Allan Hubbard Library’s department of Archives, Special Collections, and Rare Books recently acquired its third oldest book–Novum Testamentum, dated 1546. This two-volume Greek New Testament Bible was generously donated by Jill and Bob Smith (‘77 and ‘84) of Dallas, Texas.
Novum Testamentum, dated 1546
Printed in Paris at the famous press of Robert Stephanus, the volumes are bound in full early leather with marbled endpapers and gilt spine titles. The small size of this Bible (each volume is 4.75 inches long) made it portable and therefore quite valuable in the sixteenth century.
Printed in Paris at the famous press of Robert Stephanus
The convenience of a small book that you could easily carry around with you was what Harvard University Press had in mind when it created the Loeb Classical Library (for which digital access is currently available on a trial basis to the Fuller community).
If you would like to see this Bible in person, please make an appointment with the Archivist: call 626.584.5311 or e-mail [email protected]. Also, look for a showcase of Bibles to be displayed in the Library’s lobby this fall.
The air conditioner in the David Allan Hubbard Library will be shut off for maintenance on the morning of Tuesday, October 7. We anticipate that it will be back up and running at 10:00 a.m. the same day. We apologize in advance for the warm temperatures we’re likely to have in the library at this time. Thank you for your patience.
Welcome back to school! As a new academic year begins, we are sure you’ll be spending a lot of time studying in the David Allan Hubbard Library in the months to come. If you are new to graduate-level research or if you are simply new to doing research at the David Allan Hubbard Library, our Reference Librarians, Jeff Waldrop and Bonggun Baek, would like to share some insights to ease you into research mode.
Jeff Waldrop, Reference & Collection Development LibrarianBonggun Baek, Reference Librarian
What services are offered by the Reference Department?
We offer reference materials in a variety of languages
The Reference Department offers four main services in English, Korean, and Spanish:
One-on-one (or small group) basic subject-related information literacy for graduate students (Worldcat Local, periodical databases, eBooks, dissertations, etc.)
Immediate training/consulting in finding resources for papers and assignments
Training and consultation with Endnote
Research training/Endnote seminars for doctoral and master’s students
The Reference Librarians also offer secondary help on a variety of topics, for example, citation styles, organizing research, basic note taking/writing, dissertation organization (research and writing), citation searching (looking up citations for authors), basic hardware/software help (Word, Excel, Pages, etc.), and many other topics. We also have a part-time Mandarin-speaking collection development librarian who may answer research queries upon request.
How can patrons get help with research?
Reference Desk located in the Weyerhaeuser Reading Room
Library patrons eligible for research include Fuller students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Eligible patrons are able to request research help by making an appointment either by phone (626.584.5612 for English and Spanish, or 626.584.5624 for Korean and English) or e-mail ([email protected]).
The Reference Desk located in the Weyerhaeuser Reading Room (1st floor) is usually staffed from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, so no appointment is necessary for walk-ins during these hours. Additionally, before 5:00 p.m., patrons may drop by Jeff’s office on the 1st floor (in the Weyerhaeuser Reading Room) or Bonggun’s office on the 3rd floor (just south of the elevators), for research assistance.
We are also on Twitter, so you can Tweet questions to @fullerlibrary. Or you can text questions to 626.722.8902.
What are some great tips for getting started when doing research?
Print reference collection in the Weyerhaeuser Reading Room
It’s good to remember that most assignments call for two basic types of resources: books and articles, and each type of resource is found in a slightly different type of database.
For a basic article search, go to the Library homepage, click on the “Articles” tab, and type in the search criteria.
For a basic book search, go to the Library homepage, click on the “Books & eBooks” tab, and type in the search criteria.
Here are some basic searching hints:
Search terms should not be too broad, because the search will yield too many results.
Search terms should also not be too narrow or specific (e.g., do not type in a proposed thesis title, etc.) because the search will often yield little to no results.
Use short, specific, and succinct terms for the best results—let the terms broaden or narrow the main topic.
Use double quotes around exact phrases to increase relevancy when looking for a known item.
Remember that not all academic resources are freely available on the Internet through Google search. We highly recommend that students start research from the Library Web site.
Organize your search. You can create an account on Worldcat and in databases to organize your resources.
Double-check the spelling when you do catalog/database searches, as misspellings may yield no results. Pay special attention to foreign words, names, and places.
Most importantly, ask for help! You will be surprised at the various resources the library has to offer and we enjoy sharing those resources with our patrons.
What do you want people to know about the Reference Department that most people don’t know?
An interesting fact that most people probably don’t know is that we respond to reference inquiries from all over the world. We have received reference e-mails from over a dozen countries.
Another thing people may not know is that the Library can be accessed by going straight to the Library homepage, but it can also be accessed from Moodle (on the upper, dark-grey bar, click “Library,” and select “Library Resources”). And remember that when doing research from off-campus, eligible patrons need to log into the Library’s databases by using their Fuller login username and password.
Finally, we want users to know that we are friendlier than we may appear to be! See you in the Library.
We are working on revamping our Web site, and we want to hear from you! Please take a few minutes to complete our online survey, found on the Library’s home page (see the bright orange button, “What do you want from your library web site?”). Your input and suggestions will help us create a Web site that meets your needs, so please make your voice heard.
The David Allan Hubbard Library will open late this Friday, October 3, due to a Library staff event. We will open at 10:00 a.m. and close at our normal time, 11:00 p.m. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
The Fuller community is invited to explore and evaluate Digital Loeb Classical Library. Recently digitized by Harvard University Press, the database provides access to more than 520 volumes of Latin, Greek, and English texts in a modern interface that allows readers to browse, search, annotate, bookmark and share content (www.hup.harvard.edu).
Due to a campus-wide Faculty/Staff Welcome event, the David Allan Hubbard Library will open at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, September 16. We apologize for the inconvenience, and we appreciate your understanding.
The Fuller community is invited to explore and evaluate Mango Languages to experience learning a foreign language during our month-long trial. Mango Languages is a web-based program that teaches conversational skills, grammar, and vocabulary in more than 50 languages. Languages taught include Ancient Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Korean, Spanish, and more. There are also English courses for non-English speakers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCqy8lwYgMY
Mango is interactive, includes memory-building and critical thinking exercises, and is self-paced. Upon completion of a course, users will be able to make small talk with strangers, ask for directions, negotiate transactions in stores, and count up to 99, for example. Users also learn about other cultures including their communication styles, food, and other customs.
To use Mango Languages, users must have an Internet connection and a modern browser with Adobe Flash installed (Adobe 10.3 or higher). Visit Adobe’s website for a free Flash Player upgrade.
Your feedback is valuable to us! Please visit the trial databases page for more information and to share your comments: http://infoguides.fuller.edu/mango
If you have never been to the Fuller Archives & Special Collections Department, we would like you to know more about it. We asked our Archives & Special Collections team, Adam Gossman and Yvette Mankerian, to answer a few questions about this very special part of the David Allan Hubbard Library.
What services are offered in the Archives & Special Collections Department, and where is it located?
ADAM: When the Archives were founded in honor of the great missionary and ecumenicist, David du Plessis, it was set out to be a “center for spirituality.” Since then, it has morphed into an extensive ecumenical archive with collections ranging from Pentecostal and Holiness movements to the papers of the former chaplain of the United States Senate, Dr. Lloyd John Ogilvie, to the Orthodox Prayer Ministry led for so many years by Father Duane Pederson.
The Wilbur M. Smith Reading Room contains the Library’s most old and rare books.
In addition to our Ecumenical Archives, we also have Fuller Theological Seminary Institutional Archives, which exist to retain material from throughout our various departments and campuses in an effort to preserve the precious history of Fuller Seminary as it is played out each day.
Our department is also in charge of Special Collections. Unlike the vast majority of the materials in the Archives, special collection items are published material that have particular significance. Practically speaking, the difference between the Special Collections and the Archival Collections is that a patron can check out material from Special Collections, whereas to reference archival material, an archivist must be present, and certain restrictions are put in place to protect the material from damage.
There is a middle ground–and that is the Rare Book Room. We are also the gatekeepers to the rare books, which are the largest and most important of the Special Collections. We treat the rare books as an archival collection, with restrictions and protective measures upon usage.
What is your role in the Archives?
ADAM: My job title is Archivist. My role is to represent the Archives to donors, students, staff and faculty in a way that embodies what it stands for and what Fuller stands for. A major job of any archivist is to retain information, but I also believe that part of my role is to retain the spirit behind the collections we retain. I am infinitely curious about the people who created these collections and the people these collections are about.
YVETTE: I joined the Archives team as the Archives Digital Access and Preservation Librarian very recently to aid in the digitization efforts of the carefully preserved historical documents and artifacts belonging to the various donors as well as the institution. The accessibility of the variety of items, stemming from audio/visual to artwork to written sermons, will aid anyone who is looking to amplify his or her research or spiritual growth. Together with the Archivist, Adam Gossman, we hope to bring to light and give access to our wonderful collection.
What collection or single item is your favorite in the Archives?
This Greek NT is one of Adam’s favorite items in the Archives.
ADAM: This I don’t have an answer for. There are many things that are completely awesome. We have a Chinese “coin” from the year AD 14. One of my other favorites is a Greek New Testament which was given to Adolph von Harnack’s nephew at his confirmation. Later, Harnack’s nephew grew up to be a staunch atheist, but his sister was a part of the resistance to the Nazis and actually fell in love with Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s brother.
Father Duane Pederson gave us some sacred icons painted by a monk in prison, with special paint made from various products, like ketchup. They are quite beautiful. I have yet to figure out a safe way to display them.
Dedication to Adolph von Harnack’s nephew, 1922.
YVETTE: Being new to the Archives, all collections and items are intriguing and amazing. I have to say that, at the moment, I am fascinated by the small collection of pottery housed in the Archives. These items are mostly from the Holy Land with a few from Iraq, before their museum was looted.
Pottery in the Archives.Pottery in the Archives.
What do you want people to know about the Archives that most people don’t know?
YVETTE: The Archives facilities are state of the art, with climate controlled environment and ample shelving for the variety of items we house. It is rich in Fuller Theological Seminary history as well as with individual donors who have been a major influence at this institution. This collection is growing not only by content but by being accessible to our faculty and students alike.
ADAM: The Archives are rooted in an effort to expand ecumenical dialogue through study and worship. On February 7, 1985, when many of Fuller’s current students were in diapers or not yet born, the David Du Plessis Center for Christian Spirituality was founded.
We are still very committed to the ecumenical goals originally established. The Center has morphed and evolved into the current Ecumenical Archives, in which several denominations are represented, including Eastern Orthodox as well as Presbyterian. We seek to expand our representation of various traditions of our great theological heritage.
In addition to the denominational collections we also have a Performing Arts section, which houses a collection of James Dean material and a Philip Shen original origami collection. We have a Missionary and Psychology section as well; an Ecumenical Section that houses material from the Southern California Ecumenical Council; and the expanding and growing collection of materials from the Berlin Fellowship that ministered in Germany during the Cold War.
We also have an expanding Media Archive, which includes photos of distinguished figures in Fuller Seminary’s history, and a vast collection of video material including Fuller’s institutional videos.
The most important thing for people to understand about our Archives is that we would love to show you around.
How can people visit the Archives and see the collection?
ADAM: Please make an appointment if you would like to visit the Rare Book Room, Archives, or Special Collections. E-mail [email protected] or call 626.584.5311. Please also visit our Web site: http://libraryarchives.fuller.edu/.
