News & Events

Digital Library Project Update

A planned Digital Library Project will make books, Biblical and mission resources, and other cultural works in multiple languages from libraries around the world available online in a comprehensive database.

The WETIA Board on Thursday released more details about its plans to support a series of “digitization centers” engaged in research and programming to meet the full potential of digitization and preservation processes for the global theological community. Their work will provide a framework for accessing titles in college and university libraries; libraries of research institutions; government agencies; corporations; significant public libraries, in addition to theological libraries.

The centralized database will facilitate efficient sharing of information among membership
channels and many interested parties, said Board officials. People will be able to search the collections of libraries, archives and museums through a single, multilingual entry point that will
take the form of a Web portal.

Two million books, films, photographs, manuscripts and other works are expected to become accessible through the WETIA Library by 2008, rising to 7 million by 2010. The Board said the final number of holdings is expected to be much higher as “every library, seminary, archive and museum will be able to link digital content with the Digital Library.”

Updates on the Digital Library Project will be made available on the WETIA web site: http://library.wetia.org/

WETIA to pilot online training module

In an effort to strengthen its online community, WETIA is piloting an online training module for theological academicians and staff that combines online and in-person teaching methods.

The pilot will test new functionality allowing users to engage in high-quality, locally delivered training that is cost-effective. The module being developed features several different modes, such as Chat Sessions; Discussion Boards; Online Instant Messaging; PodCasting; E-Learning Software Tools; and Web Conferencing. Blended learning case studies will also be included, in addition to resources on related topics.

The pilot supports a key component of WETIA’s mission: to provide opportunities for sharing and using online resources cooperatively, to ensure a relevant, growing, sustainable evangelical theological community. Project developers also envision the pilot as a strategy for multiplying the cooperative power of member institutions through WETIA-customized solutions for local delivery
of training services.

WETIA will analyze the results of the pilot to establish a production schedule.



WETIA Library Expands with OCLC Resources

Earlier this year WETIA Library obtained membership with the Online Computer Library center (OCLC), a worldwide library cooperative. Together with the Association of Christian Librarians membership obtained last year, this relationship is seen as an important step in the library's continuing efforts to expand and better support the University's curricular offerings.

The WETIA Library is also planning to open a four-week long user training course on the use of
the OCLC Online Union Catalog to each college librarian.

Founded in 1967, OCLC Online Computer Library Center is a nonprofit, members-only computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to
the world's information and reducing information costs. More than 57,000 libraries in 112 countries and territories around the world use OCLC services to locate, acquire, catalog, lend and preserve library materials. (See http://www.oclc.org for more information.)