I would like a list in electronic form of Seminary and Church
libraries (inc. special collection departments), as well as as
historical societies
in the US and Canada.  I would like the list in electronic form to
include the name of the Insitution, the name of the library, the full
mailing address as well as email where possible. Please request
clarification if not understood.

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Request for Question Clarification by webadept-ga on 20 Oct 2002 13:42 PDT

Hi, 

Almost every church I've ever been in, and that's quite a few, have
had a "library" which they maintain for their congregation to check
out books and do some level of research. What level of "library" are
you looking for. Are these libraries separate from the church
building? meaning are they libraries which function outside of a
particular church or seminary? Can you put some level on this or are
you just looking for a really big list? and if this is the case, how
many would satisfy your need because I doubt very seriously that we
could "verify" a complete list of all church and seminary libraries in
the US and Canada. I would like to point out as well that this is not
really a problem with your bid, its a matter of trying to get you a
good answer.

Thanks, 

webadept-ga

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Clarification of Question by addy113-ga on 20 Oct 2002 21:56 PDT

I would like to restrict the list to just larger seminaries and
historical society libraries, that would contain rare book holdings or
special collections, rather than just general libraries.  The list
does not have to be complete, just reasonably long (say a few hundred
places).

As a church librarian, it would be really nice to have a list such as
this one.  However, I don't think you'll find it.  You could try
organizations like the Church & Synagogue Library Assocation
(http://www.worldaccessnet.com/~csla/) for some help.  They might
(MIGHT) be willing to share the list of their member libraries with
you.  However, since many church librarians sign up as members not
through their churches but on their own, even this will be an
incomplete list.

Also, several library organizations including the Special Libraries
Association publish annual directories of special and small libraries.
 I know this is available as a DIALOG database, but I don't know how
else to access it.  It would not be legal for me to copy a DIALOG
results list (even if I had access) and send it to you.  And anyway,
even if you could get such a list out of the database it would not be
even close to complete, as listings in the database are purely
voluntary on the part of the library included.  My church's library
was not listed for several years, mainly because we forgot to send the
listing in.

librariankt

addy113,

You have several options, of which I think the first is your best bet:

American Theological Library Association Institutional Member
Directory
http://www.atla.com/member/directories/directory_institutional.html
This directory is in HTML format and is split by alphabetical group
(A-B, C, D-G, etc.).  In general, seminary and large theological
libraries are members of ATLA, so I think this list is what you need. 
It also includes libraries in both the US and Canada.  And, it's free.

"Who's Who in Special Libraries" 
http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/who/index.cfm
This is essentially a members directory for the Special Library
Association.  You might be able to sort this directory by type of
library in addition to geographical area, etc.  It costs $125 to
non-SLA members.

If you think these two options satisfy your question, or if I have
missed something, please let me know.

librariankt