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CRRA Update August 2010

CRRA Update AUGUST 2010

We are pleased to announce that St. Joseph’s University’s (Philadelphia) Francis A. Drexel Library, under the leadership of Evelyn Minick, is the newest and twelfth member of the CRRA. St. Joseph’s brings a host of resources to the CRRA, including the Jesuitica Collection.

The Jesuitica Collection at Saint Joseph's University
Jesuitica and Jesuitana are terms used to describe material objects related to the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). At Saint Joseph's, Drexel Library preserves the University's Jesuitica as a special collection. It is a diverse and growing collection composed of more than 400 volumes, some quite rare, published between the 16th and 20th centuries. It also includes unpublished manuscripts, 16th-century correspondence, engravings, broadsheets, coins, medals, and relics. Jesuitica, like the University's other special collections, is maintained to provide encouragement and resources to the community to advance the conversation on Saint Joseph's Jesuit heritage, patrimony, and tradition through research and scholarship.

For more about the Drexel Library, see http://www.sju.edu/resources/libraries/drexel/index.html. Welcome, St. Joseph’s!

Committee Updates

July 2010 marks the beginning of a new fiscal year, a new strategic plan, and movement within committee leadership. In the spirit of the CRRA Bylaws, the Board of Directors recommends and appoints committee members. For purposes of moving forward with the strategic plan and with the good counsel from the individuals directly involved, the Board recommends CRRA committee chairs in the coming year as follows.

  • Board of Directors. Theresa Byrd (San Diego) will replace Ed Starkey (San Diego) on the Board.
  • Collections Committee. Bob O’Neill will continue as chair for one more year.
  • Digital Access Committee. Tom Leonhardt will continue as chair for one more year.
  • Scholars Advisory Committee. Jean McManus (Notre Dame) will become the chair and Tim Meagher (Catholic University) will continue to serve on the Committee.

Theresa Byrd (USD) Joins the CRRA Board of Directors

The CRRA Board of Directors extends a warm welcome to Dr. Theresa Byrd. Theresa brings to the CRRA a wealth of knowledge and experience and a commitment to the CRRA mission to provide freely available global access to Catholic research resources. Effective August, 2010, Dr. Byrd assumed the role of University Librarian at The University of San Diego (USD). Most recently she has served as the Chief Information Officer and Director of Libraries at Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio.

Very active locally and nationally in professional organizations, she is currently the Chair of the Membership Committee of ALA , a member of ACRL's National Conference Executive Committee and Roundtables Co-chair and serves on OCLC's Americas Regional Council Executive Committee. She is well- known in the library community for her work in developing mentoring programs, including the ACRL Dr. E.J. Josey Spectrum Scholar Mentor program.

Many of you had the pleasure of meeting Theresa at the CRRA all-members meeting in Georgetown. Welcome, Theresa! We are pleased to have you among us.

Ed Starkey

CRRA Board Member, Ed Starkey, retired as University Librarian of the University of San Diego, in December, 2009 and has stepped down as CRRA Board Member.

Ed, together with Charlotte Ames (retired Notre Dame Catholic Studies Librarian), was the inspiring figure for the entire CRRA project. Ed’s vision was to bring Catholic librarians and libraries together to advance Catholic scholarship and Catholic intellectual life around the globe; to encompass and create a place where scholars might find all materials related to the Catholic intellectual tradition in order to realize new knowledge. Stay tuned for the first CRRA oral history project, when we capture and preserve Ed’s “bar across from the Alamo with library directors and math teachers” story that describes the seminal meeting from which springs the vision of the CRRA.

Ed provided the inspiration, encouragement and knowledge that was so essential to the founding of the CRRA. We wish much joy to Ed in his retirement days. He will be sorely missed and we will continue our work to realize the vision he has inspired. God bless you, Ed!

The 2010/2011 Strategic Plan

CRRA Committees will meet this month and next to review and adopt the Strategic Plan, as discussed at the June 2010 CRRA All-members meeting. The draft plan is available at http://tiny.cc/plan_draft. Input from all is welcome! Please email your suggestions to Pat Lawton at [email protected].

Might be of interest ...

SAA Joint Meeting in Washington, DC August 10-15, 2010

Joint Annual Meeting of the Council of State Archivists, the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators, and the Society of American Archivists. More information is available at:

http://www2.archivists.org/conference/2010/washington.

Mark your calendars ...
We have tentatively set the date for a CRRA reunion and meetings during ALA Midwinter in San Diego and for our Annual All-members Meeting during ACRL in Philadelphia.

Please reserve space on your calendars now – Thursday, January 6, 2011 and Tuesday, March 29, 2011. For the March 29, 2011 meeting, plan to join your CRRA colleagues for dinner on Monday evening and dinner on Tuesday as well for all who can. We will organize the day to include both separate Board and committee retreats and plenary sessions for all.

Further details will be distributed in future Updates and CRRA emails.

All CRRA events and events of possible interest to members are posted to the CRRA calendar, available at http://tiny.cc/Calendar798 and also accessible from the Admin area of the CRRA website.

CRRA Update is an electronic newsletter distributed via email each month to provide members with an update of CRRA activities. Please contact us at 575.631.1324 or email [email protected] with your questions, comments, or news to share.

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