M a n y o f o u r readers are interest ed in The Biola Library, and many have contributed heavily to its collection. The past year has seen more gifts and substantial contribu tions to the Library than any pre vious year, with the exception of 1957 when Dr. Orville R. Sheffield of the Class of ’40 gave the Library his collection of 3,000 volumes. These gifts have enriched the collection tre mendously. Many factors combine to mgke The Bible Library a unique li brary, not only in the West, but in the whole country. We should like to share with our readers some of these factors. The first task of the Library is to support the curriculum. We have made a study of the courses offered, and the majors in particular. In con sultation with the heads of depart ments we have built up the Library in the liberal arts areas. Good work ing collections are now available in philosophy, sociology, political sci ence; the physical and biological sci ences, linguistics, the arts, literature, and history. Because of our elemen tary education credential program, and because the accreditation com mittees give particular attention to this area, we have built up a good collection in general and elementary education. A curriculum laboratory has been established, and some very fine collections of textbooks and cur riculum materials can be found in it. It has one of the finest sets of teach ing materials in science to be found anywhere in the area. This has been loaned to us by one of the professors in education. We are particularly proud of our psychology collection. People often tell us that they can find psychology books at The Biola Library that they could not find elsewhere. This is due to a number of things. About one third of the Sheffield Collection wa^s psychology and psychiatry. Since Dr. Sheffield was a Christian psychiatrist, he had bought many volumes that are useful in understanding spiritual problems in the psychological field. We once bought a collection that had belonged to a Jewish psychiatrist who closed up his practice. With what the Library had previously, and what has been purchased regularly for this department, a major in psychology can be unusually well supported at Biola. With recent interest in Hispano- American studies, we have begun an intensive program of building up a basic collection in Latin American materials. We have recently adver tized for titles in this field and have located some valuable books. The Li brary has the basic bibliographic ref
P LUS FACTORS
o f a Christian College Library
by Dr. Arno ld D. Ehlert
erence works in Spanish language publications from the beginning of printing in the Americas, and gets the current listings of books being pub lished in Central and South America. During the last two years we have bought extensively in Asian and Afri can history and culture. The Near East has come in for considerable at tention also. A number of works on religious developments in these areas have been purchased. The Speech Department is con cerned with communication, and so is the philosophy and other depart ments these days. A whole new litera ture is developing along this line, and we have added a considerable num ber of volumes in it. This is particu larly important for missions, preach ing, and written ministry. The art and music collections have multiplied a number of times. A col lection of miniature scores has been developed, and the Library has over 500 albums of records. The School of Missionary Medicine departmental collection has steadily grown. Many volumes of magazines have been acquired through an ex change union to which the Library belongs, and nearly all complete vol umes of magazines have been bound.
The Talbot Theological Seminary collection has reached the point now that it provides a good working basis for all departments of the Seminary curriculum. Due to the encourage ment of some of the professors in the form of constant recommendations of new titles, and some financial con tributions, we have been able to strengthen the New Testament text ual studies section, and to broaden out in church history. The Library collects extensively in the literature of the free church movement, dissent, and disestablishment (yes, and even antidisestablishmentarianism, a word which we had to sound out and pro nounce in the fourth grade with the good old phonetic system, but never thought we would ever get to use in a legitimate context!). Other religious subject areas in which the Library collects extensively (in addition to many fine gifts, buy ing everything that seems worthwhile as it becomes available at reasonable costs) include: the doctrine of the Messiah, Biblical theology, divine healing, medical missions, dispensa- tionalism (having now undoubtedly one of the two finest collections on this subject in the country), cult lit erature (both basic works and polem-
Dr. Ehlert checks one of the records avail able in the audio-visual section.
A special collection of stamps from Israel is maintained and on display. THE KING'S BUSINESS
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