The following Internet web sites are just a few of the growing number about congregational library and religious topics. They have been chosen to show the great variety currently available.

Resources for Congregational Libraries and Archives

Book Lists & Reviews | Religious Publishers | Church Library Associations | Church Libraries

Church Archives Resources | Library Catalogues | Cataloguing Tools | Library Software Vendors

Library Supply Companies | Book Repair and Preservation

Religious Resources

Bible Versions and Study | Christian Classics | Christian Art & Symbolism | Canadian Denominations

Interdenominational Associations | World Denominational Groups | Outreach Organizations | Religions of the World |Religious TV Broadcasters | Data about Religion in North America

Resources for Congregational Libraries and Archives

Book Lists and Reviews

• Children's Literature - Electronic Journals and Book Reviews, by David Brown, Doucette Library of Teaching Resources, University of Calgary. Links to his Children's Literature Web Site.
• Selection Sources for Congregational Librarians compiled by Ellen Bosman, M.L.S. Includes links to American church library association web sites, book reviewing sources, both print and electronic, software and related readings.

Religious Publishers

• Virtues Project
• Wood Lake Books

Church Library Associations

• Church and Synagogue Library Association
• Evangelical Church Library Association A national (US) organization for church and school librarians, based in Illinois.

Church Libraries (Canadian)

• Bethel Mennonite Church Library, Aldergrove  A colourful and lively site! See especially the action on the Reading Contest page.
• Christ Church Cathedral, Victoria  Click on Resource page (right side) for notes about recent books in the Library
• Colebrook United Church, Surrey  Scroll down and click on Church Library in the menu, where you will see CLABC mentioned.
• Kitimat United Church Library   This site, best viewed with Internet Explorer, includes a list of books in the library.  You may need to use the scroll bar to move through the catalogue rather than clicking on the letters above the list.
• Knox Presbyterian Church Library, Toronto

Church Archives Resources

• Sources of help and advice for your church or synagogue archives, from Billy Graham Center, Wheaton College. A regularly updated bibliography which includes publications on compiling church histories and records management as well as all aspects of archives.

Library Catalogues

• National Library of Canada's AMICUS Web Over 24 million bibliographic records describing books, magazines, government documents, theses, sound recordings, maps, etc. Incorporates 40 million holdings from over 1,300 Canadian libraries, including the National Library of Canada where Canadian books have been deposited by law for over 50 years.
• Canadian Library Gateway Canadian online library catalogues and web sites gathered together by the National Library of Canada.
• Library of Congress Online Catalog The Library of Congress, the largest library in the world, receives and catalogues many religious books. Their cataloguing is used around the world.
• Theological Online Catalogs Index. Compiled by the Technical Services Section of the American Theological Association, this listing of theological library catalogues from Canada, the United States and a growing list of other countries may be viewed alphabetically by name of library, geographically, or by denomination. Although most theological libraries use Library of Congress classification, a few use Dewey, as indicated in the alphabetic listing.

Cataloguing Tools

• CIP (Cataloguing in Publication) The National Library of Canada has compiled this information for publishers, but it may also be of interest to new cataloguers!
• Dewey Decimal Classification Web site from OCLC Forest Press, the publishers of the Dewey Decimal Classification. Includes information about its various printed and electronic editions. Three levels of the classification are summarized here.  Click on DDC 21 summaries in left side border.
• Understanding MARC bibliographic machine-readable cataloging from Library of Congress

Some Church Library Software Vendors

• Book Systems, Inc
• ResourceMate Developed by Jaywil Software Development Inc.
• Library Master Balboa Software
• Right On Programs
• Software for Church Libraries, From Selection Sources for Congregational Libraries, compiled by Ellen Bosman
• TLC (Total Library Computerization) from On Point,Inc

Library Supply Companies

• Brodart
• Demco
• Highsmith

Book Repair and Preservation

• Online Guide to Book Repair from Brodart
• Caring for your collections Library of Congress Preservation Directorate
• Preservation of library and archival materials: a manual Northeast Document Conservation Center

Religious Resources

Bible Versions and Study

• Bible Gateway The Bible in more than a dozen English versions as well as over 25 languages. Can be used to search for words and phrases. From Gospel Communications Network (GCN). Online Christian Resources; A Ministry of Gospel Films, Inc.
• Unbound Bible There are over 50 versions of the Bible in several languages in this online searchable database maintained by Biola University (La Mirada, California).
• World Wide Study Bible from Wheaton College. In addition to the text in several version, this site includes commentaries, articles, notes, poetry, etc.

Christian Classics, Full-text

• Christian Classics Ethereal Library from Wheaton College. Many great classics including Bunyan's Pilgrim's progress and Brother Lawrence's The Practice of the presence of God.
• St. Pachomius Library This much larger collection includes "uncopyrighted English translations of the Church Fathers, the acts of the Christian martyrs, the proceedings of the Councils, the lives of the early saints, etc., all of which may be freely reproduced by anyone." It includes links to works in other collections as well.

Christian Art and Symbolism

• Symbols in Christian Art and Architecture An interesting site compiled by Walter E. Gast, a Presbyterian teacher in Dallas, Texas.

Selected Canadian Denominations

• Anglican Church of Canada
• Canadian Baptist Ministries
• Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
• Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches
• Canadian & American Reformed Churches
• Canadian Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada Includes very useful links to other denominations and resources
• Presbyterian Church in Canada
• Salvation Army
• United Church of Canada

Interdenominational Associations

• World Council of Churches

World Denominational Groups

• The Holy See (Vatican)
• Lutheran World Federation
• Salvation Army
• World Alliance of Reformed Churches

Outreach Organizations

• Faith and Justice Network

Religions of the World

• Yahoo's Religion and Spirituality gateway leads to hundreds of Internet sites

Religious Television Broadcasters

• Vision TV

Data about Religion in North America

• American Religion Data Archive Housed at Purdue University, this site for social scientists includes data from many academic surveys about religion in the United States and Canada conducted in the 1980's and 1990's. It allows searches on specific terms and facilitates comparisons across different data files and permits downloads of data, all at no cost.

Updated by Fran Rose, May-June 1999, for the CLABC Conference, Victoria, June 4-5, 1999. Many thanks to Louise Swartz who suggested several of the sites added in 1999. Additional information added March 13, 2000. Last modification, October 19, 2004.

The URL for this document is http://www.cablelan.net/frose/CLABClinks.html