This is the last part of the article/lecture
Value
Having spoken about libraries for a while let me conclude by addressing the question of their value. In days gone by The Evangelical Library Bulletin would invariably carry the slogan Preservation information circulation. These words highlight very helpfully what it is about libraries that makes them valuable. Let us think about libraries under these headings.
Preservation
Libraries are valuable because they preserve books and their contents. One of the great things libraries do is to preserve treasures from the past. To use a picture, we can think of the books produced down the ages, a figure something over the 135 million mark, as akin to the multitude of species of flora and fauna with which God populated the world in the beginning. We know that many of the species are now extinct but great efforts are being made to keep any more from being lost. This is being done on the basis that we do not know fully how useful each may be in days to come.
Librarians are engaged in part in a similar task – like so many Noahs they are seeking to preserve in readable form, the books that have been written. We should be thankful that such work goes on. Many books have been lost. The Bible refers to some, such as The Book of Jasher or The Visions of Iddo the Seer. (See 2 Samuel 1:18 and 2 Chronicles 9:29, etc.) There are many, many more of these, especially from ancient times. On rare occasions one is found tucked away somewhere or on the reverse of a palimpsest. To know such works exist is tantalising.
There are also some cases where only one or two copies of an original book survive. Thankfully, if one good copy survives, more can easily be reproduced and often are.
Information
Libraries are valuable further because they inform people of the existence of these preserved books and what they contain. Once books have been preserved people can be informed of their existence. Library catalogues are a fascinating source of knowledge that inform us firstly of what types of book exist and then of the books themselves.
Imagine someone seeing that there is a classification biblical hermeneutics or systematic theology, for example. That may be the first thing to alert them to the existence of such items. I recall a time when I did not know what a thesaurus was. The moment I discovered what it is was a great moment for me. Something similar happened with systematic theology. The first one I was aware of was that by Augustus H Strong (1836-1921) and the first one I began to read was that by Louis Berkhof (1873-1957). Reading Berkhof, to quote Keats, made me feel “like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes he star'd at the Pacific”. (See On first looking into Chapman's Homer.)
Once you know a certain type or genre of books exists you can begin to find out who has written in that area. I remember a friend when I was in seminary who would deliberately scan the library shelves finding out what existed. Of course, one can take advantage of electronic search methods these days. What a help that is.
If the question is raised as to what advantage libraries have over bookshops, let me illustrate. Say I want books on the priesthood of all believers. If I go to the Amazon store and search what books they have on this subject I can find at least twenty possible titles though several are no longer in print. If I go, on the other hand, to the OCLC (Online Computer Library Centre)'s World catalogue there are a lot more books listed – hundreds. I can see that as far back as 1521 Jerome Emser (1477-1527) wrote on the subject in German. I thus have a potentially more thorough grasp of what has actually been written.
(See
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords= priesthood+of+all+believers and
https://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=worldcat_org_bks&q=priesthood+of+all+believers&fq= dt%3Abks.
Both accessed March 2017.)
Circulation
Libraries are valuable finally because they circulate news of the books they have preserved and their contents. Circulation goes on not only by means of books being picked up and read but also by them being quoted or footnoted or listed in bibliographies. It is sometimes not until a book appears in that context that some people realise it exists.
I read recently Iain Murray's new biography of J C Ryle Prepared to stand alone. In one of the footnotes I saw a reference to a book by Penelope Fitzgerald on The Knox brothers (1997) a biography of her father and his three brothers. Now I chose to download the book in electronic form rather than using a library but it was Iain Murray's footnote that alerted me to its existence. (Footnotes can be misleading, of course. I heard of a man once who read an interesting article on the Psalms that included a reference to a book in German called Die Psalmen by Berthold Seemann, the Psalms. When he got hold of the book, it turned out to be called Die Palmen by Berthold Seemann, and was actually all about palms!
Application
I am a preacher so it is right that we at least end with an application. What do we do about libraries?
1. Do support them, especially Christian ones. As you can imagine, they are constantly in need of funds. Join the Evangelical Library. Even if you do not use it, you are still helping support it.
2. Use libraries. Use their catalogues (many are online these days). Find out what is available. Do not remain in ignorance.
3. Gather your own library if you can and help others build theirs. I was most gratified to hear one of my sons say recently that now he is off to University he wants to start forming his own library.
4. Pray for them. Andrew Bonar (1810-1892) really appreciated the collection of books in his study. Indeed at times he was concerned that he thought too much of them. He realised their usefulness. He noted in his Diary on Monday 12 November 1855
Led to-day to notice that all my books, my many suitable and profitable books that come to help my study and suggest what I might preach, as well as those papers, and the like, that stir up the soul, are all part of God’s calling of me. By these He carries on what He began, and so by every verse of Scripture which He gives me the heart to feel. (Andrew Bonar Diary and Letters Marjory Bonar in loc cit).
Be thankful for your own library and for others like the Evangelical Library and the Dr Williams. Give thanks to God for them. Pray they will be provided for and be used in a way that will bring glory to God.
