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CRRA Update September 2012

CRRA Update September 2012

  • Welcome to new CRRA Participants
  • CRRA Collections Spotlight: Notre Dame’s Vatican II Collection, by Alan Krieger
  • Continuing Board and Committee Chairs
  • Update on Concrete5 and the CRRA Website

Welcome to Our New ParticipantsWe are pleased to welcome Fontbonne University, Rosemont College, and St. Norbert College to the CRRA membership and to welcome Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters as an inaugural partner (nonvoting) participant.

Founded in 1923, Fontbonne University is four-year Catholic coeducational institution of higher learning sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, in St. Louis, Missouri. Sharon McCaslin, University Librarian, said they are drawn to CRRA by the opportunity to make their unique resources more accessible and second, to actively support the teaching and scholarship of the Catholic Studies program and faculty who are interested in more effective access to a highly relevant domain of Catholic research resources. Welcome Sharon.

Rosemont College was founded in 1921 by the Society of the Holy Child Jesus and is located in Rosemont, PA, a short distance northwest of Philadelphia. Catherine Fennell, Executive Director of Library Services, Gertrude Kistler Memorial Library, is interested in membership to better support Rosemont’s Catholic identity and mission and give visibility to the great work done by the Society of the Holy Child Jesus (SHJC). Welcome Cathy.

St. Norbert College (DePere, WI) embraces the Norbertine ideal of communion and the Mulva Library works closely with the Center for Norbertine Studies, which is housed in the library and is a repository for Norbertine resources. Kristin Vogel, Library Director, believesthe CRRA mission is a compelling fit with the strategic aims of the Center as well as of the Library. They intend to significantly increase the representation of materials on the portal relating to the Order. Welcome Kristin and Sally Cubitt, CRRA liaison from St. Norbert.Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters was founded in 1922. Over the years, Victory Noll Sisters have served all across the United States and in South America. Jeff Hoffman, Archivist, is completing the digitization of The Missionary Catechist, a newlsetter published by the Sisters for 40 years, and looks forward to making the only known full run in a North American library accessible to researchers of American Catholic history via the Catholic portal.The Membership Committee looks forward to working with Jeff in the next year to better understand how we can work together to ensure access to the unique source documents that so directly inform scholars about the origins, mission and activities of Catholic religious orders, which are held by very small religious archives.Last month we welcomed Regis University (Denver, CO) represented by Janet Lee, Interim Dean of the Library and Paul Betty, DistanceLearning Librarian as Regis’ CRRA liaison. Led by then Dean Ivan Gaetz, the library staff identified various collections of importance to the portal, beginning with the historical records of Regis University, Loretto Heights College and papers of important individuals.The Jesuitica Collection, an extensive archive of historical records of the Catholic presence in the American Southwest, especially the Jesuit beginnings in Colorado and New Mexico, is particularly important in looking ahead to the scholarly conferences and research being planned around the Jesuit Restoration Bicentennial in 2014. Welcome Janet and Paul.

CRRA Collections Spotlight: Notre Dame’s Vatican II Collection

One of the highlights of Notre Dame’s special collections in Catholic theology is the Vatican II Collection, a truly unique set of primary sources for the study of the Second Vatican Council, which met from 1962-65. The collection includes more than 1400 documents pertaining both to the documents of the Council itself and to the work of the post-conciliar commissions responsible for implementing liturgical reforms. It was assembled through the generous donations of Fr. John Rotelle (then director of the Augustinian Provincialate near Philadelphia) in the early 1980’s, as well as gifts contributed by Fr. Mark McGrath and Fr. Edward Heston in the 1960’s, following the conclusion of the Council.

Finding aids for both the conciliar and post-conciliar documents were prepared in 1991; currently only the finding aid for the conciliar documents is available online – it may be accessed through a link in ND’s Vatican II Collection portal record:<http://www.catholicresearch.net/Record/undmarc_002511205>.

Submitted by Alan Krieger,

Subject Librarian for Theology, Philosophy, and Jewish Studies Hesburgh Libraries
University of Notre Dame

“Vatican II” in the portal: A search for “Vatican II” in the Catholic portal currently retrieves 1900 plus records from fifteen CRRA member institutions. You may view these records here.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Vatican II, the Collections Committee has selected Vatican II as a priority collecting area in 2013. CRRA strategic directions emphasizes that CRRA develops collections systematically and collaboratively. We will be hearing more from the Collections Committee about how members may support this important goal.

CRRA Welcomes Continuing Board and Committee Chairs

We appreciate the fine work of chairs in leading the Board, Committees, Task Forces and members in accomplishing last year’s goals, some of which were highlighted in the CRRA June 2012 Update. This year we are very fortunate to have their continuing leadership in carrying out the priorities of the new five-year strategic plan. Please join us in welcoming back our board and committee chairs!

Janice Welburn (Board of Directors)

Noel McFerran (Catholic Newspaper Task Force)

Diane Maher (Collections Committee)

Demian Katz (Digital Access Committee)

Fran Rice (Liaisons Council)

Evelyn Minick (Membership Committee)

Jean McManus (Scholars Advisory Committee)

Update on Concrete5 and the CRRA Website

We are pleased to report that work on migrating content from the current website into the open-source content management system, Concrete5, is moving along. The Digital Access Committee has been instrumental in identifying Concrete5 and in offering useful feedback on progress to date.

The site will have the same look and feel and searching the portal will be unchanged. In terms of functionality and flexibility, the site will be more dynamic by enabling user feedback and the addition of features to support our collaborative work. For example, committee members will have the ability to access and edit committee pages, allowing a simple means of collaboratively editing documents.

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