Stephen Spencer, the Seminary Librarian here at NPTS, wanted to make sure that all NPTS students, and not just the on campus students, know about all of the library resources available to them. As such, he wrote up a short list of library resources available to distance students.
Brandel Library supports distance students with a variety of resources and services. The Library will mail print books (except reference books, including most commentaries) at the Library’s expense, asking that the students return them at their expense.
The Library will scan articles in reference books, portions of commentaries, and journal articles that are not already available digitally. Students will be e-mailed the pdfs.
An increasing number of biblical and theological resources are available digitally and we are acquiring as many of these as possible. Dictionaries and encyclopedias are well-suited to digital use, because students only need a few articles for each course assignment and these are easily read online. Biblical commentaries are also becoming available as e-books and students can read online the portion they need.
The Library is also trying to purchase readers or anthologies of primary sources digitally, easing access for research assignments.
For reference books and commentaries, the Library asks that you read the book online and do NOT download the book. Downloading a Library e-book constitutes checking it out. Other students cannot access the book until the check-out period expires. This undermines the increased access of digital resources.
Distance students can always contact me (Seminary Librarian Steven Spencer) to request scans or print books to be mailed. They should also contact me with any questions or problems they have accessing resources.
They also can request directly scans or books by using the following links on the Brandel Library website (found under “Research Resources” and then under “InterLibrary Loan” on the left side of the home page):
https://883.account.worldcat.org/profile/route/workform-article
https://883.account.worldcat.org/profile/route/workform-article
https://883.account.worldcat.org/profile/route/workform-book
A Research Guide on the Brandel website contains links to most of the reference books and the major commentaries that we have in e-book format:
http://guides.northpark.edu/onlineresources
Steve Spencer, Theological & Cataloging Librarian
srspencer@northpark.edu