Theological Libraries and Library Associations in Europe

A Festschrift on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of BETH

During the past 50 years, theological libraries have confronted secularisation and religious pluralism, along with revolutionary technological developments that brought not only significant challenges but also unexpected opportunities to adopt new instruments for the transfer of knowledge through the automation and computerisation of libraries. This book shows how European theological libraries tackled these challenges; how they survived by redefining their task, by participating in the renewal of scholarly librarianship, and by networking internationally. Since 1972, BETH, the Association of European Theological Libraries, has stimulated this process by enabling contacts among a growing number of national library associations all over Europe.
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Leo Kenis, STD, PhD (1990) KU Leuven, is Emeritus Professor of church history at that University. He has published on the contemporary history of Catholicism, including, as editor with Marc Lindeijer, The Survival of the Jesuits in the Low Countries, 1773-1850 (Leuven University Press, 2019).

Penelope R. Hall, M.Div., Ph.D., D.D., has worked internationally in the field of theological education for over 40 years, teaching, writing, editing texts for in-house publications, and editing for such publishers as T. & T. Clark, Orbis and the United Bible Societies.

Marek Rostkowski is a Catholic priest with a doctorate in Missiology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome (2007). He was Head Librarian of Pontifical Missionary Library and Library of Pontifical Urbaniana University in Vatican City (2000-2016), Editor-in-Chief of Bibliographia Missionaria, and Vice-President of BETH from 2012 to 2016.
"So kann die Festschrift ungeachtet ihrer großen thematischen Vielfalt und einer gewissen Engführung mancher Aufsätze sehr wohl als ein sinnvolles Informationsmittel zur Geschichte und Gegenwart der theologischen und kirchlichen Bibliothekswelt in Europa dienen." Agnes Winter, Theologische Literaturzeitung 149 (2024), 5, 381-383.
Introduction
Introduction
Einführung
Contributors

Part 1: Theological and Religious Libraries, Past and Present


1 Tolerating Theology Libraries in England: The Libraries of Anglicans and ‘Others’ since the English Reformation
Anna James

2 Theological Libraries in Oxford
Hannie Riley

3 World Mission to World Christianity: The Changing Identity of a Mission Library through a Century of Historical Change in Church and Society
Ruth MacLean

4 Historic Church-Libraries in the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Thuringia
Hagen Jäger and Johannes Röder

5 The Sub-Library of Theology of the University Library of Würzburg Difficulties and Challenges in the Past and Future
Oliver Weinreich

6 Just Stewardship – A Self-Affirmative Inquiry into the Legacy of the Hungarian Ecclesiastical Libraries
Ágnes Bálint

7 The History of Development and the Challenges of the Present in the Theological Collection of the Ukrainian Catholic University Library
Ivanna Papa and Oleksandra Hladysh

8 Elements for a Sketch of the Italian Ecclesiastical Libraries
Stefano Maria Malaspina

9 Heritage Management in Monastery and Seminary Libraries in the Netherlands
Otto S. Lankhorst

10 The Theology Library of UCLouvain: From Leuven to Louvain-la-Neuve (1970–2020)
Geneviève Bricoult and Luc Courtois

11 The Maurits Sabbe Library in a Digital Environment: Collection Management Challenges of an Academic Theological Library in the 21st Century
Ward De Pril

Part 2: Networks, Instruments, Media, Resources …


12 ‘Informatique & Bible’ (Maredsous Abbey) and the Beginnings of Computerisation in the Religious Libraries
R.-Ferdinand Poswick, OSB

13 From Individual Card Catalogues to the National Union Catalogue: A Story of the Computerisation of Polish Church Libraries
Jerzy Witczak

14 The BeWeB Portal: a Virtual Service for Italian Ecclesiastical Libraries
Adriano Belfiore, Francesca Maria D’Agnelli, Valerio Pennasso, and Silvia Tichetti

15 Negotiating a Future for Convent Libraries: KADOC-KU Leuven and Heritage Partnerships in Flanders (Belgium)
Katrien Weyns and Kristien Suenens

16 Disclosing Thematic Collections in a Rapidly Digitalizing World: Jesuitica at the Maurits Sabbe Library
Yannick Van Loon

17 Historical and Media-Theoretical Implications of a Modern International Bibliography: Origin, Development and Future of the Index Theologicus in the Context of Other Specialised Bibliographies
Martin Faßnacht

18 Building the Corpus Christianorum: A Short History of the First 75 Years
Bart Janssens, Mathijs Lamberigts, and Johan Leemans

19 BETH, Springboard for the Opening of the IFLA RELINDIAL Group ‘Religions: Libraries and Dialogue’
Odile Dupont and Donatus Düsterhaus

Part 3: BETH: The Association and Its Members


Edited by Matina Ćurić

Bibliothèques Européennes de Théologie BETH

Appendix: BETH 1972–2022: Names and Dates

Index
This volume will be of interested for (academic) librarians, archivists, theologians, historians, churches and ecclesiastical institutions, computer scientists, IT specialists.
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