"In Good Faith" Survey on Collection Care

In Good Faith Project Prepares Preservation Survey for Small Theological and Religious Studies Libraries

The following information is shared via Malachy McCarthy. Please contact him if you have any questions (mccarthym@claretians.org). CARA members are encouraged to fill out the survey if their repository meets the survey requirements. As an added incentive, survey participants will be entered into a random drawing for one of 25 $100 Amazon gift certificates.

Chicago, IL, February 25, 2014 – Through funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the American Theological Library Association (ATLA) and project partners the Catholic Library Association (CLA) and the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) are preparing a preservation survey for small theological and religious studies libraries, archives, and cultural institutions.  The survey is the centerpiece of an IMLS National Leadership Grants for
Libr​aries Planning Grant for the project, “In Good Faith: Collection Care, Preservation, and Access in Small Theological and Religious Studies Libraries.”

The survey will help the project partners gain a better understanding of collection care, preservation, and access practices in small theological and religious studies libraries, archives, and cultural institutions and begin to identify valuable and vulnerable collections held in these institutions.  The partners will use the results of the survey to explore collaborative initiatives to respond to identified long-term collection care, preservation, and access needs. 

 

You can find the survey here: In Good Faith Survey on Collection Care

The survey is available March 12, 2014 through April 14, 2014. Participants should be part of a formal or established institution; have a library, archive, or other research collection which includes religious and/or theological materials; have religious and/or theological historical or rare materials as part of the library, archive, or research collection; and have at least one contact person (volunteer or salaried, full-time or part-time) responsible for the care/management of the research collection that can serve as the contact for the survey.  

The partners will promote the project through their memberships as well as through discussion lists and forums that include religious and theological libraries, archives, and cultural institutions. Institutions interested in participating in the survey and organizations interested in helping to promote the survey may contact memberrep@atla.com to receive notice of the survey’s availability.  

National Leadership Grants for Libraries support projects that address challenges faced by the museum, library, and/or archive fields and that have the potential to advance practices in those fields. IMLS offers grants to help make it possible for communities and individuals to thrive.

2014 Midwest Archives Conference (MAC)

This year's Midwest Archives Conference (MAC) will be held April 24-26 in Kansas City, Missouri. The theme for 2014 is "The Syncopations of History." For more information about the annual meeting, please see the MAC website.

For those planning to attend, CAA is running a MAC room and ride share list, which you can find at their site. You must be a CAA member in good standing to use this service.

If any CARA members would like help arranging a room or ride share, please contact Jerice Barrios at cenacle.archives@gmail.com.

MAC is a great opportunity for archivists to gather and learn from each other and to share their enthusiasm for the profession. Hopefully CARA will be well-represented there!

CARA Member News, March 4, 2014

Book cover for Women of Faith: The Chicago Sisters of Mercy and the Evolution of a Religious Community

Sister Joella Cunnane, Archivist for the Sisters of Mercy, would like to announce that Fordham University Press has just released Women of Faith: The Chicago Sisters of Mercy and the Evolution of a Religious Community by Mary Beth Fraser Connolly. This history traces more than 160 years of the Sisters of Mercy in Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin from three perspectives: community, spirituality, and ministry, within three time periods.  If you have any questions regarding this endeavor feel free to contact Malachy McCarthy (mccarthym@claretians.org) and/or Joella Cunnane (jcunnane@mercywmw.org), Members of the History Editorial Committee. Women of Faith can be purchased through Amazon or Fordham University Press.

Patricia Carroll hangs a poster of St. Jerome, patron of librarians and archivists, in her new office at the Catholic Library Association.

Patricia Carroll, Vice President of CARA, has joined the staff of the Catholic Library Association in Chicago. Working with Interim Executive Director Malachy McCarthy, Patricia’s role is to provide service and support to individual members, local Chapters and Sections of the Association. Currently Patricia is working on major projects like coordinating arrangements for CLA’s Annual Convention to be held in Pittsburgh, April 22 to 24 and streamlining the distribution of CLA’s quarterly publication Catholic Library World.  Future projects include preparing for the Introductory Archives Workshop for Religious Communities which will be offered in June and designing outreach strategies for new and renewing members of the Association.

Patricia earned her MLIS at Dominican University in River Forest, IL and previously worked at the Cenacle Archives in Chicago and the McGreal Center for Dominican Historical Studies in River Forest.

 

If you have news that you would like to share with the CARA membership, please send it to Jerice Barrios (cenacle.archives@gmail.com).