Library News
New Reference Services page
The Divinity Library now has a new web page specifically for reference services and research assistance. On this page you will find information on how reach the library staff, as well as specific resources that may be helpful to you. To access, click on the link for Reference Services from the library's homepage.
New library service: Instant Message a Divinity Librarian
Need help from a librarian, but you're not anywhere near the library? Don't worry, the library now provides a new Instant Messaging service. The service will be available most of the time from 9 am-5 pm, Monday-Friday. You can either use the Send a Message box, below to type your message:
or, if you have your own IM account through AIM, GoogleTalk, or Yahoo, you can send a message that way:
 | AIM: yaledivlib |
 | GTalk: yaledivlib |
 | Yahoo: yaledivlib |
When the service is available you should receive a response from one of the librarians within a few minutes. The service is active when the box says:
- Divinity Librarian is online
When the service is not active, you will see one of the following:
- Divinity Librarian is offline
- Divinity Librarian is away
You can still send a message when the librarian is away or offline, but you will not receive a response right away.
For more information on this new service, go to our new Reference Services page.
Teaching with Technology Tuesdays at the Collaborative Learning Center
The Collaborative Learning Center, located in the Bass Library, is offering a weekly program called Teaching with Technology Tuesdays. This program is for those teaching at Yale (staff, faculty, and students) interested in innovative instructional activities that utilize technology. All sessions meet on Tuesday from 11:00 am-12:00 noon in Room L01, located in the lower level of the Bass Library.
- Second Life
Tuesday, April 29, 11:00 am - 12:00 noon. - Second Life is a 3-dimensional online environment populated by graphical representations (avatars) of over 1 million people. The virtual environment of Second Life offers the potential for radical changes in the way information and services are provided, and also in the way teaching and research are conducted in traditional and new, innovative ways.
Kari Swanson (Kari Meadowbrook in Second Life) will provide an introduction to Second Life, including a demonstration of basic Second Life functionality, and a quick tour of a few Second Life education hot spots. Ken Panko will lead a discussion about the potential uses of Second Life for teaching and learning.
The Collaborative Learning Center in the newly renovated Bass Library is a resource for the Yale community designed to foster dynamic interactions among Yale students, faculty and staff from across the campus in the support of teaching and learning. The Collaborative Learning Center brings together the services of the Library, ITS Instructional Technology Group and Media Services, the Center for Language Study. For more information, visit the Collaborative Learning Center.
Research Clinics at the Collaborative Learning Center
The Collaborative Learning Center in the newly renovated Bass Library is offering 30 minute informal sessions highlighting one area of library research or service. Research Clinics are intended for Yale students and are run by Yale University Librarians or Student Techs.
- Keeping up over the summer (RSS feeds and alert services) Clinic
- Monday, April 28
4:00 pm. - Bibliography/Citation Drop-in Hours
- Monday, April 21
3:00-5:00 pm.
Tuesday, April 22
3:00-5:00 pm.
Wednesday, April 23
3:00-5:00 pm.
Thursday, April 24
3:00-5:00 pm.
Friday, April 25
3:00-5:00 pm.
All clinics meet on the lower level of the Bass Library in Room L01. Drop-in hours will be held at a service table on the lower level of the Bass Library under the café.
New Exhibit:
"Missionary Journeys: Stories of Adventure and Peril from the Day Missions Collection"
This exhibit contains a sampling of manuscript and published works from the Divinity Library's renowned Day Missions collection that describe missionary journeys from the 17th century through the first half of the 20th century. Letters, journals, photographs, and published works provide a glimpse of the exotic destinations, perilous adventures, ground breaking exploration, and unique experiences of missionaries who set out to spread the gospel.
You can view this new exhibit located in the library rotunda and the Day Missions Room.
New Bulletin Board
You may have noticed a new bulletin board in the library, located outside the computer classroom on the 1st floor. This bulletin board will showcase book jackets from some of the library's newest acquisitions. Check it out!
New Instructional Guides and Tutorials Available
We have some new instructional guides available to help you get started with your research. These are all available on the Instructional Guides and Tutorials page:
- Divinity Library Instructional Guide: Bibleworks 7.0
- BibleWorks is a Bible concordance and morphological analysis program. It contains the Hebrew Bible, the Greek New Testament, the Greek Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, and many other translations of the Bible. BibleWorks is a powerful software for analysis and exegesis of biblical text. The BibleWorks 7.0 Instructional Guide can help guide you in using this research tool.
- Divinity Library Instructional Guide: Religious & Theological Abstracts
- In addition to the ATLA Religion Database, the Religious & Theological Abstracts Database can help you find relevant articles for your research; every article citation includes an abstract (brief summary) describing the article's content. To get help using the Religious & Theological Abstracts Database, use the Divinity Library Instructional Guide: Religious & Theological Abstracts.
In addition to these instructional guides, don't forget to check out the Research Guide for Christianity which provides a wealth of resources, especially for when you are just starting your research. The Finding Articles Guide can get you started in searching for articles. You may also want to check out the guide for using the ATLA Religion Database for more detailed instructions on using this essential resource to find journal articles, book reviews, and more. Links to other tutorials and instructional guides available through the Yale University libraries are also provided.
New Reference Resources Available Online
The library has recently acquired the following online reference works in religious studies:
A comprehensive, multi-media reference source which covers the many and various forms of religious commitment. It includes entries on the different theologies and doctrinal declarations of official institutionalized religions and gives equal consideration to other religious phenomena and practices as well.
Covers Judaic systems of belief and society from Biblical times to the present. Topics covered include the religion, history, literature, beliefs, observances and practices of the Jewish people.
An encyclopedic dictionary of qur’anic terms, concepts, personalities, place names, cultural history and exegesis, with extensive essays on the most important themes and subjects in qur’a-nic studies.
An interdisciplinary, multi-cultural encyclopedia that covers gender studies, Middle Eastern and Islamic studies, religion, history, politics, anthropology, geography and related disciplines.
Websites Recommended by Theological Librarians
Librarians from the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) are working together on a project to identify the best free web resources in religion and theology. The project is called the ATLA Selected Religion Websites (ATSRW) Project. Below is a sampling of some of the websites selected by librarians participating in the project:
If you know of some good, scholarly, freely-accessible websites dealing with topics in theology and religious studies, please consider submitting your ideas to the ATSRW Project using the ATSRW Submission form. If you'd like more information on the project, check out the webpage for the project or contact Amy Limpitlaw, 432-6374, amy.limpitlaw@yale.edu.
