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.
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.