Fr. Art Purcaro (Roman Catholic/Augustinian) talks with Villanova students.

On Wednesday, Nov. 3, more than 60 Villanova University students, staff, and faculty gathered in Falvey Memorial Library’s Speakers’ Corner to check out “books” from the Interfaith Human Library. Engaging in dialogue about various religious traditions, attendees met with “books”—Villanova faculty, staff, graduate students of diverse backgrounds—for three 20-minute sessions.

Below is the list of “books” that hosted conversations on their faith background:

• Dr. Gity Etemad (Baha’i)
• Jaskirat Singh (Sikh)
• Dr. Ruth Anolik (Jewish)
• Rev. Carolyn Cavaness (African Methodist Episcopal)
• Dr. Moeness Amin (Muslim)
• Asheq Fazlullah (Muslim)
• Rebecca Mays (Society of Friends—Quaker)
• Fr. Art Purcaro (Roman Catholic/Augustinian)
• Fr. Kevin DePrinzio (Roman Catholic/Augustinian)

Thank you to all of the “books” for sharing their traditions, and thank you to all of the Villanova community members who attended this discussion. This event was co-sponsored by Campus Ministry, the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, and Falvey Memorial Library. Stay tuned for updates on the next Interfaith Human Library event.

Dr. Moeness Amin (Muslim) shares some religious traditions with attendees.

Rebecca Mays (Society of Friends-Quaker) engages with the Villanova community.

Jaskirat Singh (Sikh) answers questions from Villanova students.

Kallie Stahl ’17 MA is Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library.

By Darren G. Poley

Several guides are linked to the Theology & Religious Studies Subject Guide. One titled Bible Basics is designed to aid navigation of the sacred scriptures of the Judeo-Christian tradition and locating biblical commentaries in Falvey. Also listed is the Biblical Studies guide. On it there is a section called Advanced Research Tools. Among those tools are some which the Library has acquired and others which are open access.

Recently Falvey obtained many of the Oxford Bibliographies (Oxford University Press) which present peer-reviewed, annotated bibliographies and expert commentary on current scholarship in selected disciplines, including Biblical Studies. Two open access online resources which were recently added to the Biblical Studies guide are Biblical Bibliography of Lausanne – BiBIL (University of Lausanne) and BIBLindex (French Institute of Christian Sources).

Biblical Bibliography of Lausanne – BiBIL presents bibliographical data about books, monographs, serials, and journal articles on biblical and related studies. It has French, English, and German search interfaces. Materials cataloged are in a variety of languages. Often it has an abstract and occasionally a link to the full text.

BIBLindex provides a growing online inventory of biblical quotations and allusions, primarily from Early Greek and Latin Christian literature. Includes biblical texts written in both ancient and modern languages. The project goal is to create a searchable database of biblical quotations from all Christian literature of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages (from the beginning of the Common Era until 1400). You must create a free user account in order to access the search function in BIBLindex.

Darren G. Poley is Associate Director of Research Services and Scholarly Engagement, and Theology, Humanities, and Classical Studies Librarian at Falvey Memorial Library. You can access these bibliographies from the Databases A-Z page on the Library Website.