Minutes of the Adventist Resources Section
Association of Seventh-day Adventist Librarians
Dining Commons, Pacific Union College
June 19, 2001
Marilyn Crane, chair of the Adventist Resources Section Planning Committee, welcomed the 20 to 25 people in attendance. She noted that this is the 15th anniversary of the ARS meeting as well as the 20th anniversary of ASDAL and the 30th anniversary of the SDA Periodical Index.
She also briefly reviewed the purpose for this section. It is to encourage the collection of SDA materials and to foster greater access to this same material.
Warren Johns stepped in at the last minute when the scheduled devotional speaker, Warren Ashworth, was unable to make it. Warren gave a brief report on the new Leadership program his wife developed at Newbold College and some of his experiences in being associated with it. He told about meeting students in Europe which is split between post Communism in the east and post secularism in the west. How can we reach these two groups?
In Acts 17:14 and following, Paul tells of his experience on Mars Hills in Athens where he saw many different gods. This would indicate a religious people, but also a very superstitious people and, in one way of looking at it, a very secular people. Warren defined secularism as living without God with no higher power in the life. Paul's message was that there is a higher power.
Today, we can look at God in the world in at least four ways:
Warren ended with Psalm 8 and a prayer.
Jim Nix, founding father of the Adventist Resource Section, presented a rousing history and memories. He began with a little of his own personal history. In 1972 Jim went to Loma Linda University to open their heritage room. Four years later he was successful in getting an Ellen G. White Research Center at LLU as well. The Research Center eventually became a Branch Office.
Through the years Jim tried to get individuals involved with SDA materials to get together and talk, but without much success. In 1979 he succeeded in getting representatives from Loma Linda, Andrews, the White Estate, and the GC Archives together. Amid much tension little was accomplished.
The following is a series of dates significant to ASDAL and to ARS:
1981. ASDAL organized. Jim Nix nominated as vice president, but not elected.
1982. May 12, the first meeting of ASDAL.
1983. ASDAL met at Loma Linda where Jim presented a day long seminar on the preservation of SDA material as part of the official conference program.
1985. An art exhibit at the GC Session of this year resulted in growing cooperation among SDA institutions.
1985. A committee was set up to plan for a meeting of those interested in preservation of SDA materials.
1986. First meeting of this specialty group.
1987. The Adventist Resources Section organized.
1995. Joint meeting of world librarians and Ellen G. White Estate leaders.
Some final words from Jim:
A panel of five individuals were asked to conduct a survey of heritage room collections and of the faculty who teach SDA history at all of the NAD colleges and selected non-NAD schools. Each panelist contacted three or four schools and brought a report to the ARS meeting.
The panelists were:
The moderator was Merlin Burt, Loma Linda University.
Heritage Collections:
Most institutions had some type of heritage room or collection. They varied from a small collection to the extensive collections at Andrews and Loma Linda. All of the heritage rooms collected their own institutional records as well as that of their region. Others were more comprehensive.
Turning to the non-NAD situation, in South America there are three full Ellen G. White Research Centers located in Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. In this part of the world, the EGW Centers serve as the collector of church heritage/history. There is much duplication of effort.
Ralph Köhler did an extensive survey of European schools and brought a summary of their situation. Most are very small and only collect items of local interest. Only a few are more comprehensive in their scope.
Faculty Responses:
The second part of the survey involved asking the faculty who teach SDA history a series of questions.
The following is a summary of the responses:
Tony Zbaraschuk of La Sierra University, presented a report of a survey he conducted of Bible teachers in the Pacific Union Conference. He sent out many surveys but received only a handful of responses. From what he received he saw no consistency in the way they teach SDA history. Some spend as little as two weeks and others interweave SDA history throughout the entire year. There is little overlap in approach or materials used.
The group asked Tony to either widen the survey to include a wider range of schools or to try to get greater response from those schools in the Pacific Union. He may report at a future ARS meeting.
Gary Shearer of Pacific Union College, reported on his latest efforts in creating his famous bibliographies. The good news for all of us is that many of Gary's bibliographies are now available on the PUC Library's web page. http://library.puc.edu/heritage/index.shtml
The bibliographies include only what is available in the PUC library. While this is limiting on the face of it, many other libraries may have the same material or at least much of the same material.
Jim Ford presented the minutes of last years ARS meeting at Andrews University. He briefly reviewed the contents and circulated five copies for those in attendance to review. Only one correction was noted: a misspelling of Stan Cottrell's name. It was VOTED to accept the minutes as amended.
There are two spots to fill on the ARS planning committee due to expiration of terms. Also, Marilyn Crane is resigning. This means two individuals need to be elected for the full three year term and one individual elected for a one year term. Seven names were nominated. Through a show of hands (VOTED) three individuals were elected. They are: Warren Johns and Gary Shearer for three year terms, and Merlin Burt to a one year term.
Later in the meeting, Merlin Burt resigned from the committee and was replaced by Per Lisle for a one year term. It was VOTED to accept this change.
Those in attendance were asked to suggest topics for next years ARS meeting. Since the meeting will be in Latin America it would be nice to have topics of use/interest to librarians from South America and perhaps Inter-America. Topics suggested included:
Marilyn Crane reported on the Loma Linda University Heritage Room's project. Their goal is to prepare a bibliography of all SDA and Sabbatarian adventist publications between 1844 and 1870. Professor Paul Bork has worked a lot on this project as has Marilyn.
There are 237 titles currently in the online database. Find the database on the LLU Heritage Room web site. http://151.112.2.51/heritage/SDABibliography.htm They are still adding and verifying titles. There are a lot of cross references required since many publications have alternate titles or other title variations. Andrews University has already done a preliminary search and suggested quite a few additional titles. At some point, LLU would like other libraries to do the same.
At last years ARS meeting, it was voted that the Planning Committee would bring a recommendation to this year's ARS meeting regarding a phase three of the bibliography which would go beyond 1870. At this point, Loma Linda University recommends that we wait a little while to see how phase one progresses before considering phase three. [Phase two is the electronic bibliography. See next item.]
At last year's ARS meeting, the SDA bibliography project began with two phases. A third phase will come later. Phase one is the 1844 to 1870 bibliography being done by Loma Linda University. Phase two is a virtual library catalog coordinated by Andrews University. Steve Sowder reported on the virtual library catalog and demonstrated several searches.
While the VCAT is not a bibliography as such, it is a way which allows a researcher to search most of the NAD college library online catalogs simultaneously. All NAD library catalogs (except Oakwood, Union, and Columbia) are searched and results presented. The three which are not searched are members of consortia which makes it impossible for the search routine to function the way it currently needs to be done. This may change with time. Address: http://www.andrews.edu/library/vcat/sdaunionlist.html
Merlin Burt reported on a project begun at the LLU Heritage Room to identify and locate original historic church and institutional records and efforts to preserve them. He is beginning in the Southern California Conference and will expand out from there.
Jim Ford reported that about 25 letters were sent to international libraries that may have original manuscript materials. Only two responses came back. These were for three collections, two housed at Collonges and one at Friedensau. These collections are now on the online list of manuscript collections on the ASDAL home page under Seventh-day Adventist Resources. Address: http://www.asdal.org/sdare/sdamanucoll.pdf. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader to read.
Steve Sowder reviewed the status of the Union List of Periodicals he maintains. This list shows all of the periodicals, not just SDA, held by several SDA libraries. He would be happy to list more, but he is waiting to receive data. He also called on those who have already sent data to update it. Address: http://www.andrews.edu/library/vcat/jrntitles.html
This report opened a discussion of how we can cooperate together to make periodical resources more available to those who don't have them. It is recognized the burden will fall on the NAD libraries. Inter-library loan or some other modern method of transfer is the apparent way to share. One of these modern methods could be to scan into PDF and then mail it as an attachment to an e-mail.
Some type of cooperative policy is needed. It was recommended that we ask the ASDAL Executive Committee to appoint an ad hoc committee to look at a cooperative agreement. Suggested membership included: Violet Maynard-Reid (WWC), Cynthia Helm (AU), Pat Beaman (SAU), Marilyn Gane (AU), Annette Melgosa (AIIAS/ASDAL), and Steve Sowder (AU). Annette will take this to the ASDAL Executive Committee.
The White Estate continues to add to a bibliography of all of Ellen White's writings. These can be found at the Loma Linda University Heritage Room/Ellen White Branch Office web site. Address: http://151.112.2.51/heritage/EGWBibliography.htm
Jim Ford presented his annual report on the Cooperative SDA Obituary project. There are currently more than 365,000 citations in the index. Since January, our web site had around 4,000 hits, or about 25 per day.
This past year there has been virtually no cooperation. Andrews University continues to stay current for the ten periodicals we index. There was a little activity from Caribbean Union College, but that was the extent of the cooperation for the year.
What about the future? There are similar lists at Newbold College, Avondale College, and reportedly at River Plate University. In the future we should hope to see these lists merged into one.
What about the vast numbers of obituaries which are essentially death notices? They do not provide the biographical information which used to appear in obituaries. They are very sparse. Would it be better to spend our time on some non-North American titles which provide fuller biographical write-ups instead?
The ARS attendees want to see a continuation as in the past. There was no real discussion about broadening out. Jim suggested that if others want some of the new titles indexed that perhaps they could try to make it possible by cooperating.
Address for the index: http://www.andrews.edu/library/jewel/SDAPI.html
Marilyn Crane reported briefly on the status of the Adventist Pioneer Library's Words of the Pioneers CD project. The second edition sold 755 copies and 127 copies of a special edition. They are currently working on the 3rd edition. Selection is completed and they are searching for the best method of data entry. Their periodical, Lest We Forget, which spotlights various of the pioneers, continues. http://www.tagnet.org/apl/
This project began in 1980 with Keith Clouten and Warren Trenchard. The Library of Congress classification schedule did not have enough categories to adequately accommodate SDA materials. So Keith and Warren restructured BX 6100s. The Library of Congress was impressed with the finished product, but is not likely to officially adopt it. The scheme is continuously updated, currently by Marilyn Crane and an advisory committee.
They plan to publish it regularly in PDF format so it is widely available to all who may wish to use it. Catalogers prefer to browse this schedule. They do not care not so much whether it is searchable. Just get the scheme out there. It will be available via the ASDAL web site. http://www.asdal.org/reports/index.html
Adventist Heritage magazine was (is) a wonderful source of Adventist history. Unfortunately, through a series of poor management decisions and the resulting financial problems the magazine has not been published for several years. Nothing is happening currently at La Sierra University, the publisher, with regard to a resurrection of the magazine. Dr. Ella Simmons, Vice President for Academic Administration at LSU, is aware of the problems.
Several suggestions came forward. One is to consider electronic publishing. This would save printing and shipping costs. Another suggestion has to do with a cooperative venture between LSU and one or more other partners. In the past LSU was unwilling to give up the name.
After discussion the following resolution was VOTED:
The Adventist Resources Section of the Association of Seventh-day Adventist Librarians is deeply concerned regarding the uncertain status of Adventist Heritage magazine. We would like to see some effort to resurrect Adventist Heritage, possibly with a cooperative arrangement between those interested.
This year, Jim Ford put some effort into making the Adventist Resources page of the ASDAL web site more useful. There are now links to Adventist historical material, to full or partial text of many SDA periodicals, and to some general church information sites as well as sites where current and old resources may be purchased. This page is one which will need continuous updates and improvements.
Jim Ford announced that the Andrews University Adventist Heritage Center is working on a searchable database for SDA photographs. It currently has about 1,500 photographs, mostly people, in the database. They are still wrestling with a variety of legal issues. It was hoped to unveil the site at this meeting, but Jim was only able to show a sample of what it looks like with the hope that it will be fully available later. Whatever the legal results, it will be useful for in- house use.
Merlin Burt introduced the new Ellen G. White photograph database. It is available via the Loma Linda web site. There are about 1,200 images which represent all of the images in the White Estate collection. http://151.112.2.51/heritage/WhitePhotos.htm
| Marilyn Crane Chair, ARS Planning Committee |
Jim Ford Secretary, ARS Planning Committee |
