Religious Studies Collections

Photo by Wojciech Zalewski

Scope of this Home Page

This Home Page is designed with patrons of the Stanford University in mind. It intends to 1. Identify major categories of reference materials and sources in Western languages in Religious Studies at Stanford University; 2. List important titles within these categories, primarily relatively recent publications (older materials can be identified through listed published guides); 3. Locate these materials at Stanford and facilitate stack browsing for related materials (default location is stacks); 4. Provide links to major resources outside Stanford. In brief: It is a "START HERE" guide.

While using this guide please be advised that the section Religion on Internet is a multisubject section. There are several multidisciplinary databases of which individual titles are not always listed in our catalogs but are available through the search of a given database. Some are listed in this guide, for general ones please consult the Stanford's library Database page.

Each section is organized into two parts: bibliographic followed by non-bibliographic references. Within each category an attempt has been made to follow a chronological arrangement from the most recent publications to older imprints.

For general information about the collection see Introduction below.
For general information on libraries, collections and services and access to general and other subject resources please consult the main page of the Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources.

Page content:

Theology

Biblical studies

Manuscript collections housed in the Department of Special Collections
Guides to microform collections

Contact Person

Wojciech Zalewski
Bibliographer for Religious Studies
Stanford University Libraries
Stanford, CA 94035-6004
Zalewski@stanford.edu
Tel. 650-723-9274
Fax 650-725-1068

Introduction to the Stanford University Libraries Collections in Religious Studies

The collection growth was driven by programmatic needs that changed with time. Courses in religion at Stanford were offered as early as 1907. The first appointment of a full time professor of religious studies, however, was made in 1951, and the Department of Religious Studies was established in 1973. An historical outline of Stanford's academic programs in religious studies was written by Professor Van Harvey ("Religious Studies at Stanford. A Historical Sketch". Sandstone & Tile, Spring/Summer, Vol. 22, Nos. 2 &3, 1998:3-10). His article, however, does not include the history of library collections in religious studies.

Several bibliographers, including Associate Library Directors Elmer Grieder and Paul H. Mosher, worked with the collection over the years. A collection policy was developed in 1971 and revised by Mary Jane Parrine in 1980. Collection surveys were undertaken and acquisitions were made accordingly. The main acquisition program is guided by the collection policy reflecting academic programs. The Library collects materials in Western, Slavic, Arabic, Hebrew and Asian languages. About 23,500 volumes acquired prior to the year 1965 were cataloged in the Dewey Decimal Classification, class 200s. Since that time the Library of Congress classification classes: BF, BJ, BL, BM, BP, BQ, BR, BS, BT, BV, BX are being used. There are also materials relevant for religious studies in art (N), music (M), literature (especially in PK), history (D), and bibliography (Z). In addition to print materials the University Library has several microform collections, materials in electronic and audio-visual formats. Archival materials are housed in Special Collections. Imprints in Asian languages are housed in the East Asia Library. Although the bulk of the collection is housed on Campus a substantial part of it is housed in remote storage called SAL 3. From there books can be paged upon request, placed through the catalog (Searchworks or Socrates), and delivered within a day or two depending on the time a request was made.

Cooperation with the University of California, Berkeley and the Graduate Theological Union satisfies many needs to which Stanford cannot respond on the basis of its own libraries. Together, however, the collections constitute an outstanding research resource in support of graduate academic work.

Web pages edited by Wojciech Zalewski

Last modified: January 31, 2012