August 6, 2007

TO: The Princeton Seminary Community

FROM: Stephen D. Crocco

RE: A Theological Library for the World

Long before Luce Library was built, the Seminary had plans to renovate Speer Library. There have been a number of studies and documents in the last two decades about the Speer project. This one is the latest. It grew out of several site visits to newly renovated libraries and numerous discussions held over many months by a “working committee” consisting of Adrian Backus, Julie Dawson, Ira Fink, Bill French, John Gilmore, Joan Gotwals, German Martinez, Sandy McNutt, Rose Mitchell, Kathie Sakenfeld, Richard Young, and me. We all profited from reading earlier library studies, such as the one led by Prof. Scott Hendrix in 2003. From the Library, Cliff Anderson, Julie Dawson, Sarita Ravinder, Christine Schwartz, Kate Skrebutenas, and Don Vorp gave this document several readings. Although the working committee and department heads made valuable contributions to the discussion over those months, the need to turn a fruitful conversation into a document fell to me.

Special thanks go to Iain Torrance and trustees Mary Lee Fitzgerald and Heather Haaga for arranging the January 2007 trustee meeting to visit the Huntington Library. Library Director David Zeidberg gave a presentation on the new Munger Research Center—by all accounts a model library and a model procedure for moving from idea to construction. At that meeting we also heard from Chris Gane, University Vice-Principal for Library and Information Services, who shared his perspective on the University of Aberdeen’s plan to create a landmark library building.

Behind this brief document stands a lot of supporting information, such as the studies of current storage capacities and use of rooms prepared by seminary master planning consultant Ira Fink and the proposed storage facility and supporting work spaces prepared by Collection Development Librarian, Don Vorp.

The document began as a description of the “ideal” Princeton Seminary Library. Although I have not entirely abandoned the concept of an “ideal” library, I have redirected the focus to identifying a mission for the library that grows out of the history, commitments, resources, and responsibilities of the Seminary. I invite your comments and suggestions. Please submit them to library.vision@ptsem.edu and I will share them with the working committee.

A Theological Library for the World:

The Vision for a Princeton Seminary Library Complex

Stephen D. Crocco

James Lenox Librarian

August 6, 2007

H. Richard Niebuhr started his career as a college president. The question pressing upon the young administrator was, “Why does a self-sufficient college preparing men for seminary need a gymnasium and an endowment?” The answer, he discovered, was that gymnasiums and endowments were rapidly becoming standard features of accredited colleges. In the 1926 Elmhurst College yearbook, Niebuhr conceded that any educational institution needs to attain certain standards set by the culture. But, he warned, “with all this emphasis upon standardization we may lose sight of the fact that our ultimate purpose is not the attainment of a common standard but [the attainment] of an effective individuality … The standard must represent a minimum and not a maximum, if it is not to become a source of danger.”  

ATTAINMENT OF STANDARDS FOR MODERN RESEARCH LIBRARIES

Because the renovation of the Princeton Seminary Library (PSL) comes relatively late in the game of renovating research libraries, it will inevitably reflect standards—as Niebuhr might say—or standard features that are now widely accepted in renovation and new construction. They are presupposed in any “ideal” design for the PSL, but they are not the ideal. Standard features can be grouped roughly as follows:

Building Efficient, Smart, and Accessible Structures 

• Building and ADA code compliance
• Flexible floor plan/multipurpose construction
• Energy efficient systems and “green” construction.  (LEED status: silver or higher.)

Addressing the Digital Turn in Librarianship

• Spaces for managing information as well as owning it
• Robust AC power and wireless capability/smart rooms  
• Focus on the unique: Special Collections

Creating a New Learning Culture: The “Barnes and Noble–izing” of Libraries

• Project rooms, group study rooms, and living room spaces
• Information commons as a gathering point for library and technology services 
• Public spaces for exhibitions, events, concerts, and receptions, including a café

Standard features for research libraries have changed drastically since the 1980s. For example, almost no one in1982 could have imagined libraries with digital media labs and cafés, let alone wireless Internet. The point is that standards change. A renovated PSL will be current with the latest standard features of modern research libraries. No matter what else we do, the PSL will accommodate the latest trends in librarianship, ranging from managing digital content to providing Web services to supporting new styles of teaching, learning, and research.

The “information commons,” one of the current buzz words in library construction and renovation, has become a common feature of college and university libraries.  The PSL will surely have its own version. An information commons concept is ideally suited to bring library patrons up to speed in a modern information environment. Asbury Theological Seminary has actually re-branded its entire library an information commons.  The primary goal for such libraries is to enable students to learn the skills necessary to navigate their way through the digital environment—in other words, to facilitate students’ information literacy.

However, an information commons is not adequate as an organizing principle for a forward-looking research library. Its weakness is that it lifts up as an end or goal what has already become a standard, namely that students and faculty have access to a convenient suite of services to enhance personal productivity in a digital era. To celebrate an information commons concept is or soon will be akin to celebrating “circulation” or “reference” services—things now widely taken for granted, though important for students and faculty making use of library resources. 

One key difference between the information commons/information literacy model and an information architecture model we aspire to here has to do with the patron-base. The information literacy model (and the concept of an “information commons”) concentrates on improving the skills of registered students. This model is particularly important when incoming students have had little experience using digital technologies in college and require additional formation. The information architecture model concentrates on providing resources for a broader audience of students and scholars in a scholarly discipline. This model is most successful when institutions have amassed intellectual capital which they wish to share not only with registered students, but with scholars and students around the world.

These models are not mutually exclusive, of course; the information architecture model assumes that information literacy is a standard embraced by the Seminary.  However, the proposed vision of a “digitizing the library” suggests that the PSL will make a real contribution in the development of information architectures for a worldwide audience.

In this document, little attention is given to current library operations. That is not to minimize them. Certainly those responsible for planning the renovation of the PSL will succeed in surpassing the library needs for every group of library users—students, faculty, alumni/ae, researchers, and library staff. This prediction runs parallel to the simple fact that our collections, combined with those of Princeton University, will support virtually any theological curriculum as well as any general area of faculty research.

A Brief History of the Library Project

In the mid-1980s, the Seminary planned an addition to Speer Library for Special Collections (rare books, manuscripts, and archives). Building codes required that the entire Speer building be brought up to current code. That created a project more expensive and involved than the Seminary was willing to entertain. As a result, the “addition” was reconceived as a new building and built forty feet from Speer, with a bridge connecting the two libraries. The PSL master plan includes the renovation of Speer Library, the fine-tuning of Luce in light of changes made in Speer, and the possible addition of a third building.

The Seminary continues to improve Speer where there is a sufficient energy payback, when it must make repairs, or to address building and safety codes. But steam lines and windows need to be replaced, the antiquated heating and cooling system needs to be upgraded, electrical capacity needs to be increased, and so forth. These mundane matters are behind the plan to renovate Speer Library and may lead to a new building. Beyond them, the renovation must allow for modernizing the fixtures, furnishings, and equipment of the Speer building, some of which are original to 1957, the year it opened. The high point of the renovation will be the creation of a welcoming and comfortable library fully equipped for the digital age.

AN EFFECTIVE INDIVIDUALITY FOR THE PSL

As Niebuhr observed, there is always a danger that by embracing standard features, an institution will lose sight of its effective individuality, that is, its unique mission. The interesting and important question in all this is whether Princeton Seminary’s mission will drive the PSL to do or be anything more than a great research library, distinct from others only by virtue of its particular collections. 

The Proposed Mission of the PSL

In a renovated facility, the PSL will meet or exceed all pertinent building and program standards for research libraries.In addition to its current services and collecting emphases,the PSL will become a major partner in the effort to digitize theological texts and develop information architecture for scholars, be the home to the most extensive theological library anywhere, and be a broker of books and digital texts to and from the Majority World. In a word, the mission of the PSL is to become a theological library for the world. 

1.  “Digitizing the Library”

A decade ago, the idea of “digitizing the library” was a pipe dream. Large-scale digitization technology is now in place and digital libraries are growing rapidly. We believe that copyright issues will be resolved in ways that make these digital libraries more than a repository of titles in the public domain. The PSL is in conversation with one of the major digitizing projects and expects to be a significant contributor of books to be digitized, particularly of titles passed over in the large initial scanning runs. The PSL is also in conversation with Dennis Norlin, Executive Director of the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) about how to turn the mass digitization projects at Princeton and other ATLA libraries into something that can serve all ATLA member institutions, as well as theological libraries around the world.

Princeton Seminary aspires to move its long-standing commitment to research and publication into the era of information architectures. We have joined research libraries and centers which are shifting resources to metadata librarians and programmers, charging them to work alongside scholars to develop specialized information tools. The goal is to harness emerging technologies to create new information services (including online digital libraries, scholarly wikis, and federated search tools) for the benefit of students and scholars working in a variety of theological disciplines. Take, for example, Yale’s Jonathan Edwards Center, which, though not part of the Yale Divinity Library, is producing a digital edition of Jonathan Edwards’ principle works—a substantial benefit to Edwards’ scholars everywhere. Consider also the work of our own Center for Barth Studies, which has partnered with Alexander Street Press and the Barth Archive in Basel to make a digital edition of Karl Barth’s entire corpus available to scholars at universities throughout the world.

2.  A Storage Facility and Theological Library of Record

Many libraries and other repositories without access to off-site storage are forced to weed materials or build expensive storage spaces. We propose to create a million-volume-plus storage facility for theological libraries and other repositories with storage needs. Paper and microform materials stored there could be retrieved and returned according to pre-established policies. This “pool house”—a concept first articulated by Charles Willard several years ago—could save ATLA libraries millions of dollars in construction costs and allow these libraries to create space-intensive services in what were once book stacks. 

We believe participating libraries would soon recognize that they do not need to own their own copies of rarely used materials. With this realization, to go a step beyond Willard, those items “stored” in the facility would become part of a theological library of record (TLR@Princeton) owned by the ATLA or some body other than the PSL. Items not already in the digital library would be digitized upon receipt, pending copyright.

Using “simultaneous searching” technology, every ATLA library could display its holdingsand theTLR@Princeton holdings on a single online public access catalog (OPAC) screen, with links to digital copies. The TLR@Princeton could also be accessed through the ATLA Group Catalog. Or, alternatively, to anticipate the gradual demise of proprietary automated systems, the TLR@Princeton could combine a next-generation information access and retrieval system (such as the Endeca’s Information Access Platform or Mark Logic’s XML Content Server) and contemporary bibliographic conceptual models (such as “Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records”) to provide state-of-the-art access to information about the books in its repository.

Libraries facing space problems could withdraw paper copies of books with the full confidence that ATLA has preserved high quality digital images and the TLR@Princeton has physical copies of the books. Depending on copyright restrictions and assuming they were not in the digital library already, libraries wishing to borrow one of “their” books would receive notice when they were added to the database—usually within a few hours rather than the days or weeks it takes to borrow a book by traditional interlibrary loan.  Such a notion would affect traditional concepts of “ownership” and the way accreditation agencies understand and use it to assess institutions.

Paper books, particularly those on heavily acidic paper, will not last forever. And it seems unlikely that theological libraries are going to engage in mass paper deacidification. The best chance for keeping paper books intact may be to keep them in a highly regulated environment, common in high-density storage facilities.

With this plan, the TLR@Princeton would go on record as being open to acquiring and storing the entire literature of theology as each volume becomes available. To prime the pump and to provide an incentive to ATLAlibraries to participate, the PSL will “donate”up front as many as 300,000 of its little-used and older materials and donate after that approximately 12,000per year, effectively eliminating any future space problems in Speer and Luce.

3.A Theological Library for the World

Digital Library Collection

It is a short step from creating the TLR@Princeton to turning it into a theological library for the world. With an influx of little used titles from member libraries, ATLA and the TLR@Princeton would work to supplement mass digitization projects by adding value to existing files and actively pursuing materials not yet in the digital library. The OPAC would not only contain information about digital books, it would contain links to those books. Effectively, the TLR@Princeton OPAC would serve as a clearinghouse for digitized theological texts. Potentially, any institution or individual with Internet access could have access to these digital texts. Similarly, any institution or individual could request a digital copy for an as yet undigitized book, which could immediately be added to the database. This digital library could also be made available on terabyte-sized hard drives in parts of the world where the Internet is not yet stable. 

Theological Book Network

We propose inviting the Theological Book Network (TBN) to act as the receiving agent for the TLR@Princeton. The mission of the TBN is “to provide quality academic books and journals to theunderresourced libraries of seminaries and colleges in Africa, Asia,Eastern Europe, and Latin America” (www.theologicalbooknetwork.org). As the receiving agent, the TBN would accept books fromlibraries, scholars, and other donors who embrace the dual mission of sending books overseas and building the TLR@Princeton. In exchange for the right to select a small number of books for the TLR@Princeton, the PSL will house the east coast operation of the TBN, significantly reducing its overall costs and increasing its efficiency.

Digital Librarianship

The international scope of the PSL’s outreach—significantly enhanced bythe presence of ATLA and the TBN—sets the scene for collaborationbetween the PSL and theological library networks and libraries around the world. We will use these connections to establish an internship program to train “digital librarians” from the Majority World. Our hope is that these digital librarians will not only broker digital texts to their countries but also take a lead in digitizing theological texts from their countries and brokering them to the more developed portions of the world. We believe this exchange in theological literature will also help generate indigenous theological work and support local publishing efforts.

A Theological Library of Record for the World

With the TLR@Princeton in place, there is every reason to encourage libraries in the Majority World to deposit materials in Princeton, both for digitization and preservation.  The TBN’s expertise in shipping books overseas can be turned to shipping books back to North America. 

SPECIALIZED ISSUES FOR THE PSL

In addition to meeting generic standards for research libraries, the renovated PSL will require a number of features tailored to support its collections, services, and mission. The specialized features are set out here in the form of problems to solve and opportunities to realize in a renovation of the PSL.

Staying Within a Budget

What is the cost of the renovation and construction of a facility to house the library operation described in these pages? Can the Seminary raise the necessary funds?

High-Density Storage

The current acquisition rate of fifteen to twenty thousand books and pamphlets per year will effectively fill remaining stacks in the PSL in the next few years. Either a robotic

retrieval storage unit or a forklift retrieval storage unit will provide more than adequate storage space. High-density storage is modular in nature, so the number and size of modules is flexible. We could build adjacent to Speer and Luce a sufficient number of off-site storage modules to house the entire literature of theology, while retaining most of the current land for parking or other purposes! However, there are other options, such as building high-density storage into the core of a “gutted” Speer Library, or building it off-site. All of this is subject to review and approval by the Borough of Princeton. By relieving the crowding of books in Speer, how much space will be freed up for patrons and programs?    

An Architectural Solution to the Library/Libraries Question

How can Speer and Luce be better tied together physically and functionally? At present, Speer and Luce function as two separate libraries joined by a bridge. How can a renovation help them to function as one library complex of three buildings, keeping in mind that one library has one entrance/exit?

A Zoned Library

Are there good reasons, such as security and energy efficiency, to divide the PSL buildings into different zones with different operating hours?

A Building Complex of Distinction

Can the likely scenario to connect Speer and Luce with a third building be the occasion to create a complex more architecturally interesting or significant than either Speer or Luce? While everyone wants a library of distinction, to what extent is creating a buildingcomplex of distinction feasible or important? 

Renovate Speer or Build a New Building?

How will we decide whether it is more cost efficient, feasible, and desirable to renovate Speer or to build a new building in its place?

Technology Support and Training

The Seminary will use the renovation project to create a new home for the “Telecommunications, Network, and Support Services” division of the Department of Information Technology (DIT). How can architecture contribute to a profitable relationship between the DIT and the PSL?

Smart Spaces

Given the number of international partnerships and opportunities for collaboration, what do we need in the way of smart spaces for videoconferencing, talks, training, and classes meeting in the library on an ad hoc basis?

Seminar Rooms

How do we address the long-standing desire of faculty to have seminar rooms stocked with books and decorated with artifacts representing the history of theological inquiry?

Reigner Reading Room

How do we house the Reigner Reading Room, with its stock of curricular materials and the PSL’s audiovisual collection? How do we attend to its occasional need for workshop space?

Ph.D. Suite

How do we build on the success of the current Ph.D. suite while making it a more secure and accessible place? Would after-hour access be desirable and feasible? Are there ways to improve upon the open carrels bolted together in a row and individual study carrels (twenty-five feet square) to make the suite a more desirable place to work?  

Project Rooms

What is the best way to accommodate scholarly projects that share basic needs but require spaces for long-term, specialized projects? Would after-hour access be desirable and feasible?

Faculty Studies

For decades, as space permitted, Speer Library has offered small studies to retired faculty. Should we continue or even expand this practice?

Backlog Storage

At any one time, there are up to ten thousand books (not to mention pamphlets, microfiche, etc.) in a backlog waiting to be cataloged. How do we store these items in a way that is easily accessible to catalogers but does not clutter up work areas?

Viewing Area

How do we accommodate the growing number of students who are being asked to view films as part of class assignments?

Receiving and Shipping

Given that we have and can expect to have deliveries and pickups of large numbers of boxes and equipment, what sort of loading dock and receiving area would be adequate?

Balancing Access and Protection

How can we safeguard our materials while accommodating the requests of scholars and publishers who want to photograph and digitize them?

Conservation Lab

Although the PSL will probably never be a major center for the conservation of the

printed word, we will continue to take on gift collections and dated materials and be concerned about “last” and “best” copies of books. What space do we need, then, to do basic conservation/preservation work?

Theological Book Agency

Given that bookstores are changing drastically, is there some way a renovated library could accommodate the Theological Book Agencyor its successor?

Display of Artifacts

How do we feature our specialized research collections, some of which have period furniture and artifacts that would help to promote research, fund-raising, and future acquisitions?

Browsing in Special Collections

Given that many of the items in our Special Collections are there for their research value rather than for rarity, monetary value, or age, how do we provide secure access to these materials without having to ask library staff to do excessive paging? 

Security

How do we overcome the security problems in the Exhibit Hall in Luce Library? How do we display items of permanent interest, items for special purposes, and traveling exhibits? Can security systems for library materials also provide security for patrons?

Einstein Museum

Given that there is no permanent Albert Einstein museum in Princeton, should we look into creating in the PSL a modest Einstein Museum, to commemorate the life of the great man, who lived at both 81 and 112 Mercer Street (each a stone’s throw from the PSL)?

CONCLUSION

The plan to renovate Speer Library or build a new library, fine-tune Luce Library, and possibly connect the two buildings with a third building is an expensive proposition, both in terms of bringing the PSL up to current standards and creating the new spaces necessary to implement the vision described here. There are obvious and hidden costs that need to be spelled out. However, if carefully planned and adequately funded, the new PSL will meet or exceed every pertinent standard for renovated research libraries in the twenty-first century. On this foundation, the PSL will build its special programs and emphases, which grow out of its history and mission, and create a theological library for the world.