Flora Lamson Hewlett Library News

Flora Lamson Hewlett Library News

From the Spring 2019 edition of Skylight

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In the past twelve months, the GTU library has renovated several new academics spaces, including multiple classroom and conversation spaces and a new digital learning lab. We’re pleased to announce that we have also created for the GTU community on the library’s main floor, a new Prayer and Meditation Space. The space is designed to feel comfortable for students, faculty, and staff from any of the diverse religious traditions at the GTU. “As members of our community make use of the space, we hope it will enhance the religious and interreligious experience that is a hallmark of GTU education,” said GTU President Daniel Lehmann.

Since 1993, the GTU library’s annual “Reading of the Sacred Texts” lecture has provided fresh insights into the words that shape our sense of the sacred. Our 27th annual lecture on March 13 featured dancer Carla DeSola, who drew on more than 40 years of performing sacred dances in a range of liturgical and social justice gatherings. DeSola showed how she choreographs and dances a biblical story or text, using prayer and improvisation and integrating body, soul, mind, and spirit with the music to illuminate the movement behind the word. Other recent speakers at this annual lecture have included Dr. Barbara Green, SJ (2018), Dr. Stephen A. Crist (2017), Dr. Rita Sherma (2016), and Venerable Thepo Rinpoche. See an archive of past lectures at www.gtu.edu/reading-sacred-texts.

Did you know that the library offers a number of services to alumni of the GTU and its member schools? The GTU provides alumni with free, lifetime access to the American Theological Library Association’s ATLA for Alums database, an essential online resource for sources in religion and theology. To set up your account, fill out the form on this page: www.gtu.edu/library/alumni. Alumni in the Bay Area can purchase a borrowing card for $30 per year, allowing them to check out books from our collection. If you aren’t in the area, but would like to access items from the GTU collection (perhaps a copy of your own thesis or dissertation?), talk to your local public library about InterLibrary Loan (ILL). We are happy to mail items from our collection to a library near you.

Find out more at www.gtu.edu/library