Mental Health Library & NZ's great interloan service

For those interested in issues relating to mental health - a topic that we often post about on this site - you can now access the NZ Mental Health Foundation's library catalogue online.

The layout appears to be pretty simple and you don't have to be a library member to use the search part of the site. There's a login area for registered Mental Health Foundation library members, who can now access their membership details, check current loans and overdues, and reserve titles online.

I'm not sure from the info on the library site how you become a member if you're not already one, but no doubt a quick email to this address will let you know: nfo@mentalhealth.org.nz

An alternative method of accessing the books in the library is by getting them through your own local library's interloan system. At the cost of $5.00 a book (and usually an interloan period of a month) you have access to an enormous range of materials from around the country.

To check whether any book is available anywhere in the country, go to the New Zealand Libraries Catalogue. This amazing resource lets you know which libraries in the country have copies of the book you're looking for; from there it's just a simple step: contact your library and ask them to interloan. The book will usually be available within a few days.

Book photo by Dawn Endico

Missional Librarians

Some interesting comments from a newish book called Virtual Worlds, Real Libraries, edited by Lori Bell & Rhonda Trueman. The book's subtitle is: Librarians and educators in Second Life and other multi-user virtual environments. (The latter expression is apparently now shortened to MUVE, something I learned before I'd read more than a few pages.)

What was interesting to me, in light of the many posts on here and discussions I've linked to, is that librarians are thinking missionally. In the Introduction, they ask: Why Should Librarians Be There? and go on to say:

From April 2006 to February 2008, the number of accounts in the virtual world known as SL [Second Life] increased from 180,000 to more than 12 million. Other virtual worlds - including Active Worlds and World of Warcraft, as well as Webkinz, Penguin Club [actually Club Penguin], and Whyville for children - are experiencing similar strong growth, and new virtual worlds seem to be appearing almost daily.

What is happening is that the web, which has evolved over the past 15 years from displaying just static text to graphical, dynamic web content and mashups [a Web application that combines data or functionality from two or more sources into a single integrated application], is becoming more and more interactive. Increasingly, sites seek to engage users and involve them in the processes of using and creating information. Static web pages, no matter how attractive, are no longer enough to impress users of the next generation - or perhaps any generation now using the Internet...

Libraries need to look at places on the web, including virtual worlds, where potential library users are active and assess how library services might be integrated into these environments. Many individuals now involved in virtual worlds may not be traditional library users. By putting ourselves where these users are, librarians have a remarkable opportunity to increase use of the brick-and-mortar library, promote library services and materials, and support education initiatives in SL and other virtual worlds.

It's this last paragraph that most intrigues me. If we were to change just a few words, we'd get:

Christians need to look at places on the web, including virtual worlds, where seekers are active and assess how church services might be integrated into these environments. Many individuals now involved in virtual worlds may not be traditional church attenders. By putting ourselves where these people are, Christians have a remarkable opportunity to increase use of the brick-and-mortar church, promote church services and materials, and support Christian initiatives in SL and other virtual worlds.

If librarians can get missional, why can't we?

Photo of a not-so typical library by Kate Andrews

It's Church, Jim, but not as we know it.

Some stats from Mark Brown's paper, The Bible in the Digital Space:

In just a short period of time the net has grown to around 35 billion pages with some 1.6 billion people using it.
There are around 55 trillion links between all the web pages in the world.
Every day there are some 100 billion mouse clicks made.
Every second, 2 million emails are sent.
Every two seconds in terms of data size, the equivalent of the Library of Congress, the largest library in the world, is moving across the web.
The internet is massive and growing at an extraordinary rate. It’s predicted that this year more information will be created on the Web than in all previous years combined.

And this phenomenal growth it isn’t simply limited to western nations, with Africa as an example, experiencing more than 1,000% growth in net users in the past 8 years. There is also a big push happening at the moment to make available internet access for all people, including those in the two-thirds world, with such projects as the Google backed O3B network (The Other 3 Billion).

Mark asks: What if we were to move into this digital space and offer an experience of church, of the Bible in the language and the culture of the digital environment?

Like it or lump it, this is a huge harvest field....to paraphrase: It's Church, Jim, but not as we know it.

The Reason for God

I've recently finished reading Timothy Keller's book, The Reason for God: belief in an age of scepticism, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's an original approach to apologetics, and as soon as I can find a copy I can afford, I'll buy it. (It's only available in hardcover at present.)
Surprisingly, my local library had a copy of it, for which I was very grateful. In fact, over the last number of years they've accumulated quite a store of good books in the Christian area. Obviously someone on their staff has realised that they have a lot of Christian readers amongst their 'customers.'
If you want a bit of an introduction to Keller's book (apart from the link already given) you can check out the site dedicated to the book. It has a video of Keller talking about his book on it as well.