Library News and Events

Construction update 10/20/23

The Turpin, Mosher, Todd, and Walvoord buildings have all been witness to great progress over the past several weeks. The closing in of the Turpin Atrium, framing of offices in Mosher, and the earthwork for the Walvoord plaza have all gone smoothly.

As we fall deeper into Autumn, the Turpin and Todd buildings will shed some of their existing brickwork and don new glass walls that mirror the existing design of the Bailey Student Center. The remaining brickwork will receive a new waterproofing treatment and the accenting bands on both buildings will also receive a touch-up. The exterior work on the buildings will be complemented by more visible, above-ground work on the Walvoord Plaza. We hope new exterior features will be substantially completed by the kickoff of our on-campus Christmas Festivities.

Live video here.

NOISE AND MORE NOISE

Yes, demolition was really, really noisy. But demolition is now mostly complete and it is much quieter.

There will still be some construction noise. Noise reduction strategies: We will give you foam ear plugs. We have some very small old typing carrels with doors that help a little. You may borrow books and go to Bailey center to study.

Air Conditioning

AC has been fixed.

Fall Library Orientation Canceled Due to Construction

See Basic Introduction for New Students. Contact library reference staff for personal help.

Construction Update

Basic services available. Collection available.

Renovation will probably resume in August 2023. The library will be open and functioning on a normal schedule, and the entire collection will be available, although you will have to ask staff to retrieve journals. Ample study space will be available on the second and third floor of Turpin Library. There will be noise. As an alternative study area, Bailey gathering space will be open.

Mosher building

All of the Mosher building will be closed and inaccessible for several months. Ask library staff for journals you need.

Turpin building

Renovation of Turpin will include portions of all three floors. During construction, all three floors of Turpin will be accessible. Construction areas will be behind temporary walls. But some parts of some floors will be inaccessible.

Construction Update

As of 4/20/2023, we are still in the planning and pricing process. If all goes well, we will start construction later this summer (maybe August 2023 if building permits are granted promptly). Phase one construction should be completed by the summer of 2024. There will be a pause during the centennial year. Then Phase two will begin.

Construction Update

Renovation plans have expanded. Major changes are coming to the library starting this summer (2022). Preparations are already underway in the Mosher Library for the renovations that will take place for the 1st floor of Turpin and Mosher. Exterior walls on the Northwest corner of Turpin will be replaced with glass on all 3 floors to allow for more natural lighting. The atrium allowing visibility to the upper floors will be filled in to keep noise from ascending to the designated quiet spaces. All surfaces (carpet, paint, and ceilings) on the first floors of Turpin and Mosher will be replaced and modernized. The first floor of the Mosher Library will be the new location for the Seminary’s IT helpdesk and media support. (Think of it as a one-stop shop to answer any questions about software and/or hardware.) The remaining floors and spaces in the libraries will be updated after the Centennial Celebration.

Mosher renovation

Some modest renovation is planned for Mosher. Mosher Media center will temporarily move to the basement of Stearns Hall around 7/19/21. Journals will move to the basement of Mosher. Then media center will move to the first floor of Mosher. There will be a new technology helpdesk on the first floor. We do not know when this process will be completed.

Reminder of Early Closing on Fridays Summer 2023

Entire campus including library closes at 12:00 noon on Friday June 9, June 16, June 23, June 30, July 14, July 21, July 28, 2023.

Turabian 9th Edition available in Zotero

You can now add Turabian 9th Edition (full note) to Zotero. Go to the Cite tab of the preferences and click the "Get additional styles..." link. Then search for Turabian.

Spring Library Orientation for New Students, Jan 18–19, 2023

  • Learn the basics of searching some databases.
  • Meet the staff and hear about services that will help you.
  • Tour the library and media center if time allows.

Orientation sessions are scheduled for the following times this semester. Meet at the globe near the circulation desk for the orientation/training sessions.

Date Day of week Time of day
Jan 18, 2023 Wednesday 11:40am-12:30pm
Jan 19, 2023 Thursday 11:40am-12:30pm

Unable to make a session? See Orientation for Newbies. Contact library reference staff for personal help.

Distance students benefit from Atla Reciprocal Borrowing Program

DTS now participates in the Atla Reciprocal Borrowing Program. This means scores of libraries will lend to DTS students, all across the US. It is as simple as this: A DTS student walks into a participating library, shows proof of current enrollment at DTS, and borrows materials based on local lending policies. There is no cost for the student other than possible fines for overdue or lost material.

Expanded database: Philosopher's Index

We have subscribed to Philosopher's Index for many years. Our version now provides online access to 323 journals.

PI cites and abstracts scholarly journal articles, essays, books, and book reviews, published from 1940 to the present in English and major European languages. PI focuses on aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, logic, and metaphysics, but also includes literature on philosophy of education, history, science, religion and other fields. Try sample searches for religion, faith, free will, theism, interpretation (= hermeneutics), philosophical anthropology (= nature of man), soul and resurrection to get a feel for the range of useful topics covered. As of July 2022, it indexes 1,882 journals, of which 323 are available full-text online.

New subscription database: Education Source

Education Source. As of 2022/7, Ed Source indexes 2,271 active periodicals, plus many older defunct titles. 1,897 active titles are peer-reviewed journals. Many but not all are available full-text online. It covers all aspects and grade levels of American education, including some coverage of private and Christian schools. Education Source uses subject headings that are similar to the terminology used in ERIC, so it is practical to search both databases simultaneously.

New Authentication System Beginning 11/2/21

Beginning Tuesday, 11/2/21, you will no longer OneLogin to access library databases and WorldCat. Faculty, students, and staff will use their Microsoft Azure/Office credentials to access library databases.

  • Students should use their FirstNameLastName@DallasSeminary.edu account.
  • Faculty and staff should use their FirstInitialLastName@dts.edu account.

DTS grads will use their Microsoft credentials for grad databases (except not WorldCat). That means a grad @dallasseminary.edu ID, and a personal Microsoft password. However, grads who are registered Community Users with a Courtesy Card will use their barcode number and a personal WorldCat password to renew books in WorldCat.

One person can have multiple accounts. Grads can access only a few databases compared to students, faculty and staff.

Book Sale Oct 5–7, 2021, 8:30 am - 3:30 pm

  • Hundreds of titles.
  • Turpin Library front porch
  • Priced to sell.
  • Some titles sold only as whole sets.
  • New titles added daily. No early-birds, holds or reservations.
  • Cash or check. All proceeds will be used to buy library materials and pay for special unbudgeted library projects.
  • Book dealers, please wait until the last day of the sale to shop. We want our students to have the first opportunity to select.

Is the library selling its collection? Not at all. Every year friends of the library donate books to the library. Many of these gifts duplicate what we already own. Some are outside the scope of our collection. So we sell them. On rare occasion the library also sells volumes discarded from the collection such as obsolete editions, worn copies, and other unneeded items.

Masks optional!

Warning added 8/20/21: check DTS website for current covid protocols that supersede old protocols below.

New protocols concerning Masks and Social Distancing. Starting Monday May 31, 2021, the wearing of masks will be optional in the library. However, masks will be recommended for specific indoor areas (e.g., elevators) marked by "masks recommended" signs. Social distancing will not be required for study areas. However, individual study carrels do offer a way to limit exposure between people. Please respect those who wish to use masks and practice social distancing. DTS website provides more details on covid protocols.

All remaining COVID-19 safety measures will remain in place until further notice.

Special Epidemic Services for Some DFW Students

revision: THESE SPECIAL SERVICES EXPIRED 5/17/21

Some DFW area students do not attend courses on the Dallas campus because of the epidemic. They might be quarantined or at high risk for virus infection, for example. These students are eligible for special reference and document delivery services (such as email delivery of scanned articles). Let us know if you have special needs because of the epidemic. But please do not abuse the service. Distinguish between needs and wants.

(Distance education students--meaning students who do not live in the DFW area--are eligible for special services because they are unable to visit the Dallas campus. This is always true, even when there is no epidemic.)

Books and the virus

Can the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus be transmitted through contact with a book?

We can only offer a non-expert answer to this technical medical question. We think the following is correct. A large initial dose of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus can survive for a few days on the cover of a book or inside a book. It may be possible for you to get COVID-19 by touching a book that has the virus on it, and then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes. However, there is no evidence this is happening. Further, the virus particles naturally deteriorate, and decline of virus concentration is roughly exponential. If a typical book cover is exposed to normal office air and light then the half-life of virus particles on the cover is about 5 hours. So about half the virus particles are disabled in the first 5 hours, half of the remainder are disabled in the next 5 hours, etc. After 24 hours the practical risk is usually low. There are exceptions; the half-life is a bit longer for confined or stacked books, for example. We think risk of transmission from books is similar to the risk of transmission from packages at the grocery store or packages in the mail. That is a low risk.

What is the library doing to prevent transmission of the virus on the surface of books?

We clean the covers of reserve books when they are returned. We quarantine circulating books 3 days when they are returned to the service desk. But books shelved in the reference collection or in the general circulating collection may have been touched by anyone at any time. Custodial staff clean all library furniture and high touch points (doors, restrooms, etc.) frequently. But they do not clean books in the stacks.

What can I do to protect myself?

Wash your hands and use sanitizer after handling books and other library materials. Prevent any virus particles from getting to your mouth, nose or eyes.

What is the basis for all this?

For documentation, see https://library.dts.edu/pickup/surface-transmission.zip

Added 10/15/2020: literature review.

UPDATE 4/9/21. April 5, 2021 the CDC updated information about surface ("fomite") transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes the COVID-19 disease. "Findings of these studies suggest that the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection via the fomite transmission route is low, and generally less than 1 in 10,000, which means that each contact with a contaminated surface has less than a 1 in 10,000 chance of causing an infection." See https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-research/surface-transmission.html.

UPDATE 5/18/21. Library no longer cleans the covers of reserve books when they are returned. Library no longer quarantines circulating books when they are returned to the service desk.

Library will reopen Monday, 5/4/2020

Library will reopen Monday, 5/4/2020. Nearly all services will be available. A few facilities such as small group study rooms will be closed.

  • In this first phase of reopening, the library and media center will be open Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 4:30pm.
  • The Library will be sprayed with a disinfectant chemicals first thing every morning, and then touch points will be wiped down through out the day.
  • Maintain social distancing policies. Anyone who enters the library must wear a mask. People who are seated in a large public space AND who are able to maintain their social distance of six feet may remove their masks. If another person encroaches on the six foot area of social distance, then both parties are required to put on a mask. Wear a mask in stairways, restrooms, etc. See library home page for updates and modification of rules.
  • All overdue fines incurred before 5/4 have been waived. Existing loans have been extended to 8/25. So if you borrowed something before we closed on 3/24, then you won't incur a fine as long as you return it by 8/25. However, please return all books you are not still using. Return them now. Other students want those books now! You may use the book-return slot adjacent the front door to return books whenever the library is closed.
  • Normal borrowing rules and normal overdue fines apply for all items borrowed from 5/4 going forward.
  • Contact library@dts.edu or 214-887-5280.

Beginning 3/24/2020, Library will be closed until further notice

Due to a public health emergency, library will be closed until further notice. However, a small study space will be available.

  • Overdue fines will be waived.
  • Due dates will be extended, but it will take us a week or so to get that done.
  • For help with ebooks and ejournals, contact library@dts.edu or leave voice mail at 214-887-5280.
  • See https://library.dts.edu/Pages/ER/er_topic.shtml for a list of many databases arranged by topic.

While the Turpin Library is officially closed to the public and to off-campus students, the first floor of Turpin Library will remain open (8am-4pm, Monday through Friday) in order to provide study space and WIFI access to students living in campus housing. Please note the following:

  • Only students living in Swiss or Washington Tower may use the study space.
  • The second and third floors, which house the circulating collection, will be closed and inaccessible.
  • Space will be limited so that appropriate group size limits and social distancing can be maintained.
  • No library staff are on duty and no circulation service or reference assistance is available.

New 9th Edition of Turabian in Force

Most papers at DTS should conform to the format detailed in A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate Turabian. The DTS supplement to Turabian explains which Turabian options to use, and it provides additional rules specific to DTS. See https://library.dts.edu/turabian for links to the supplement, paper templates, etc.

The new 9th edition of Turabian is now the standard governing format and style for DTS papers. It differs from the 8th edition in many small details. The DTS supplement to Turabian has been updated. Note the following three changes.

  • According to the 9th edition, it is no longer necessary to include an access-date for online resources that display a publication date. This includes most online journals and books. Access date is now used primarily for undated items like web pages.
  • Some section numbers in Turabian have changed.
  • According to the DTS supplmenent, when referring to a citation that has just been used in a previous note, use the author-title method of shortening rather than the increasingly obsolete abbreviation ibid. However, the first reference to a work within a new chapter should be a full reference.

Additional Renewal

Faculty and students are now often permitted to renew a book a third time. Formerly only two renewals were permitted. Renewal attempts are still blocked if another user has placed a hold on an item you have borrowed. Why the change? Increased use of online resources has decreased use of print books. With less demand for the print books, we can be more generous with borrowing rules.

New Interface and Provider for L’Année philologique

For the past five years we used the EBSCO interface and search engine to access the L’Année philologique database. It is no longer available from EBSCO. So you will need to use a new interface. See our Introduction to L’Année philologique.

L’Année philologique indexes journal articles and books from 1928 to date concerning all aspects of classical studies from second millennium BC to about 600 AD, including Greek and Latin literature and linguistics, early Christian texts and patristics, Greek and Roman history, art, archaeology, philosophy, religion, mythology, music, science, and scholarly subspecialties such as numismatics, papyrology and epigraphy. Some citations have abstracts, and the abstracts are in English, German, Spanish, French or Italian. Therefore you need to use search terms in all of those languages if you wish to be thorough. For example, to search for a bible passage, use the book name and chapter with quotation marks in the All fields choice under Free search, and use multiple langauges. A search for John 3 would look like << "john 3" OR "johannes 3" OR "jean 3" OR "jn 3" >>. You might also type "testamenta" in the Ancient author and text field under Thematic search. Adding testamenta to a search will reduce the number of extraneous results, but it will miss some relevant results. It is most useful if the book name is common.

New Database covering Chinese Language Humanities and Social Sciences

DTS library users can now search the entire CNKI China Academic Journals (CAJ) database. However, we have purchased access to full-text pdfs in only two series: Literature/History/Philosophy (series F), and Education/Social Sciences (series H). So this is a good source for social sciences and to a lesser degree humanities, including Chinese religion and culture, church history and missionary work in China, Christianity and culture, as well as theological and biblical studies. Most of the articles are written from a secular perspective. The two series contain full-text articles from nearly 3,000 journals dating back to as early as 1932. The CAJ database is updated monthly. See our English language introduction to CNKI Chinese database and Chinese language introduction to CNKI Chinese database.

DMin Access to Library

The official DMin sessions are as follows:
Winter session: October 15-April 14
Summer session: April 15-October 14

DMin students have library and database privildges during these periods. Contact the registrar if you need library privileges at other times. Also feel free to contact library staff about special needs.

New Version of Index Theologicus (IxTheo)

Index Theologicus has released the alpha version of a new IxTheo. This is both an expansion of content and a change in software interface. The publisher says: "The new IxTheo is a comprehensive bibliography for theology and religious studies. It is now possible to search not only for articles, but also for monographs, databases and relevant Internet links. A selection of review journals is now also included. When the relevant licenses permit it, it is possible to access directly the complete text of the articles, reviews and books."

I haven't tested the search engine, but the new interface is an improvement. New features include links to online contents (only a few links so far), table of contents links (Inhaltsverzeichnis), and publisher blurb links (Klappentext). The detail record display screen offers a list of "similar items." There are a few open access links (Kostenfrei) such as to Theologische Literaturzeitung.

IxTheo has long been known for currency. Journals are indexed within 24 hours of the time they were received at the Tübingen university library. Yes, libary staff do all that work. I expect IxTheo is or will soon ingest some data from publishers directly rather than having library staff key the records.

IxTheo has long been known for providing coverage to some European titles not in ATLA. That coverage now seems to be expanding a bit more. A search of the one word "resurrection" in the default field retrieved 2,195 citations, of which 1230 are English language and 965 non-English. Format breaks down as 1,112 articles, 946 books, 134 reviews and some misc. Only 45 have online links to the full text.

It is still FREE, thanks to the Universitätsbibliothek Tübingen.

The new Index Theologicus is here: https://ixtheo-test.de/ . Remember this is an alpha version.

Wifi for grads and community users

We now have a guest wireless network in addition to the student wireless network. The new DTS-Guest network is dedicated to serving currently registered Community Users and DTS grads. Ask staff at the circulation desk for the password. Be mindful of normal internet security risks; we do not guarantee security or safety. Do not abuse the network. The network is intended to support library research. The guest network is fast enough to stream a movie, but it is not intended for entertainment.

Unregistered visitors are not permitted to use the Guest network. Free wifi is available at some fast food outlets near Baylor hospital on Gaston. Public libraries provide free use of computers and internet access. The Erik Jonsson Central public library is just 1.9 miles away. The 001 bus goes down Live Oak and passes within a few blocks of Jonsson. The Lakewood branch library is 2.3 miles away. The 019 bus goes up Gaston and stops next to the Lakewood branch.

WorldCat has replaced BIBLOS

For years the seminary community has used WorldCat as a database. Now we are also using it as our local catalog. It has replaced BIBLOS. So WorldCat is the resource you will use to find what we own, to renew your books, to place holds, etc. We think you will adjust to WorldCat easily, but see this introduction to searching WorldCat and see http://library.dts.edu/Pages/RM/DBM/WC/ for local documentation.

Throughout 2015-16 library staff will be busy tuning operations and adjusting procedures to exploit the new software more fully. Those changes will mostly be invisible to the general public. But we will be rolling out some additional benefits for students toward the end of 2016.

Curious about why we switched from Biblos to WC/WMS? Some features and benefits of the new software are as follows.

  • The WC database. When you search DTS library holdings, you are also searching a database of millions of books owned by thousands of libraries all over the world. Items owned by DTS are displayed first, then items in DFW and Houston areas, then items from the rest of the world. In addition, WC is moving toward a more Google-like search experience for WC Discovery, although this is still a few years in the future. Things on the agenda include: spelling correction; seamless access to full-text (it is not yet seamless); relevancy ranking based on a central index of content harvested from thousands of publishers; linked data and knowledge cards.
  • Mobile friendly interface. Use the web browser on your smartphone to search, renew, etc.
  • Support for extension libraries. We are now able to support branch libraries with their own circulation rules, etc.
  • Support for non-English language resources, cataloging, and users. Support for Unicode characters. Now you can see Chinese script, for example. User interfaces in Spanish, Chinese, and several other languages.
  • Support for electronic resources. Our old software was designed to support book-centric staff functions. Now that we use electronic resources, and rent as well as own resources, we have new needs, calling for very different software features. Our new software has a knowledge base which helps with selection, rental, purchase, and cataloging of e-resources. The KB drives the OpenURL resolving service which figures out where and how to obtain ebooks and ejournals when database citations lack links. Our new software has an Electronic Resource Management (ERM) module (which we have not purchased) that tracks license terms, costs and subscription dates, vendor contact info, etc.
  • Electronic transmission of orders and invoices for old fashioned books as well as e-resources. This requires relations with vendors to make it work.
  • Less DTS time and expertise required for computing support. The server, the software, and the data are located not on campus but at a service bureau accessible via the Internet. We no longer have to buy or maintain a server or upgrade software.
  • SIP/NCIP support for self-checkout systems. We may possibly use self-check at extension sites where small enrollment makes it is hard to justify staffing for long hours.
  • Infrastructure to support single sign-on so we can eventually use one password and authentication system for all DTS websites and online services. Eventually.
  • Better resource sharing. OCLC/WMS is a cooperative/shared venture; the work done by one library benefits all other libraries in the cooperative. Sharing (between libraries) of data and software and services may be more efficient and more economical for us. This includes shared selection and order info, shared cataloging, shared license and linking info, shared central harvesting and discovery, etc. Sharing also supports interlibrary loan and consortial purchases.
  • Trustworthy vendor. OCLC, the system vendor, is a nonprofit corporation governed by libraries for libraries.
  • Lower cost. Really! Money saved is being redirected to purchasing ebooks and ejournals.

Oxford Reference Online

Oxford Reference. Full-text subject-specific reference books such as the Encyclopedia of the Reformation. This is a good place to go for an initial overview of a topic. However, at this time (11/2014) we only have access to 40 reference works from Oxford.

New resource: Loeb Classical Library Online

Loeb Classical Library Online. Formerly available at Turpin library only as a print/paper resource, LCL is now available online. LCL includes more than 520 volumes of Greek and Latin texts with English translations. Search by author, title, words in Greek and Latin texts, and words in English translation. Use quotation marks to delimit an exact phrase. Advanced search supports "OR" and "AND" operators. You can also do an initial search for a single word, then pick "Search within Results" to specify an additional word.

Texts are not lemmatized or morphologically tagged. Use TLG, Perseus, and Logos when you need advanced grammatical search options. Use Loeb to display Greek with corresponding English translation. Incidently, nearly 300 of the old public domain volumes are available free for download here: http://www.edonnelly.com/loebs.html

New resource: Taylor and Francis online journals

Taylor and Francis Online. Provides access to 1,100 social science and humanities journals, with coverage from 1997 to date. Covers a broad range of disciplines including Anthropology, Archaeology, Arts, Humanities, Behavioral Science, Business, Management, Economics, Criminology, Education, Geography, Planning, Urban Studies, Environment, Media, Cultural and Communication Studies, Politics, International Relations and Area Studies, Public Health and Social Care, and Sociology.

New eJournal List

Most of the ejournals available from the library are included in the OCLC WMS journal listing. Use this resource if you want to know if a specific journal is available full-text online. See How to Access Journals for a brief tutorial.

The new OCLC WMS ejournal list and openURL resolver replaces the Serials Solutions product we used from 2006 through mid-2014. Why have we switched? The new product integrates tightly with other modules of OCLC WMS software which you will begin to see around July 2015. WMS will result in much improved access to electronic resources.

Silent Zones AND [Soft] Conversation Zones

The library has designated certain areas as silent zones, including Mosher 1st and 2nd floors, and Turpin 3d floor. You will see signs as you enter those areas of the facility. In the slient zones please adhere to the following guidelines:

  • Please keep noise to a minimum.
  • Use stair wells for soft conversations or phone calls.
  • For group work, use a group study room.
  • Consider Walvoord or Mitchell for extended conversations.

The library policy on noise is as follows. Library users should recognize that noise can disturb those who are studying. Library users should also recognize group study and collaboration have an important role in education, and this collaboration requires conversation. The library distinguishes special Silent Zones from normal study areas. Users should not talk in designated silent zones, but may talk softly in other parts of the library to conduct library business, including group study. Users should set phones to "vibrate" and should only use cell phones in the stairwells. Conversation is permitted on the patio and in group study rooms.

Free: EndNote, Mendeley and Zotero

Many at DTS use Zotero, EndNote, Mendeley or other similar software to manage bibliographic citations, notes, and pdfs. Competition is driving some dramatic changes.

In early April 2013, wealthy science journal and book publisher Elsevier acquired Mendeley. A "basic" version of Mendeley is free; advanced version available for annual fee. In late April, EndNote has announced a "basic" version free, a $.99 ipad app, and advanced version for annual fee or for one time purchase.

Turpin Library will continue to offer instruction in use of Zotero (which has always been free), but over the next year we will be evaluating the free versions of competitors.

New link: Classical Latin Texts

Classical Latin Texts contains most literary Latin texts up to A.D. 200. Enter from Home by agreeing to the terms of use. Find links at the upper left for Authors, Word Search, and Concordance. Click Authors to retrieve a list of classical authors. Choose an author for a list of works, and choose a work to read the text. Use Word Search to search for a word, phrase, or words related by specific operators. Click the gear icon for the list of operators or to set up filters for authors or works. The program does character string searches but allows for word breaks. Use Concordance to retrieve a line of text for each occurrence of your word or phrase with the citation on the left. Click a citation to go to the text. These texts were previously available on The Packard Humanities Institute's CD ROM 5.3. You can find a complete listing in the Canon of Latin Authors.

Convenient new searchbox supports searching multiple databases simultaneously

For quite some time now it has been possible to connect to any EBSCO database (e.g., ATLA) and then use "Choose Databases" to select multiple databases and search all of them simultaneously with a single search. But many students seemed to be unfamiliar with this feature. So we have added a searchbox on the library home page to advertise this feature and make it easy to use single search. See image below.
Any field search image

Single search is convenient but it is not the best way to execute precise searches. Part of Search Tips part one discusses the pros and cons of the generic Single Search kind of technology.

Ebooks now on EBSCO platform

NetLibrary ebooks have moved to the E-books on EBSCO platform. Now that theological publsihers are just beginning to license their titles to libraries for online ebook access, we expect this collection to grow rapidly.

Download dissertations from semi-new database

We now have online access to thousands of PhD dissertations. Proquest dissertations, formerly Dissertation Abstracts International, cites nearly every US PhD/ThD dissertation accepted by an accredited school since 1861. We have had access to the citations and abstracts for years, but now we have access to pdf downloads for many but not all of the cited dissertations. It includes few PhD dissertations outside the US and few DMin dissertations. (Check RIM for the DMin dissertations). Subject headings are very broad (e.g., religion, biblical studies). Title and abstract and full-text of the documents are all searchable. If you are retrieving too many irrelevant citations, then just search the title field. If you are retrieving too few, search the full-text of the dissertations.

New links to rabbinic sources

Online Responsa Project=Global Jewish Database includes Hebrew Bible and traditional Jewish commentaries, the Babylonian Talmud with Rashi's commentary and Tosafot, the Jerusalem Talmud, the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides, Shulchan Aruch with commentaries, Midrashim, and hundreds of books of responsa. This is an excellent source for rabbinic sources. 100% Hebrew language; no English. Even chapters and verse numbers of the bible are in Hebrew, not Arabic numerals. Login is not necessary in order to search (in Hebrew) and view a result list. But if you wish to view detailed context for search results, you must login as a subscriber or register as a guest.

You may also be interested in Rabbinic texts in Hebrew (Bible, Mishnah, Talmud, Tosefta, Mishneh Torah [Maimonides]) or Talmud, Soncino English translation or Ancient Jewish resources listed by national library of Israel.

Special Collections Relocated

Special Collections, including archives and the rare book collection, have relocated from the Mosher building to third floor Turipn.

Collection of Course Syllabi Online

The library no longer maintains a collection of DTS course syllabi. Find course syllabi online.

6,500 TREN edocs available via BIBLOS

Over 6500 TREN edocs, including many masters theses and regional ETS papers are cataloged in BIBLOS and available for download. The pdfs are encrypted. When you click a TREN link in BIBLOS, you will be promoted for your DTS ID and library PIN/password. You will then see an intermediate screen that provides the password to decrypt the file. There will also be a link to actually download the file.

New subscription database: Iter

Iter indexes literature pertaining to the Middle Ages and Renaissance (400-1700), including journal articles, books, essays in books, and book reviews. Religious topics are prominent. As of 2009 there were about one million citations.

New link: École Biblique

École Biblique et Archéologique Française indexes books, journal articles, and essays, most of them dealing with biblical exegesis and archeology of the Near East, as well as the language and literature of people of the Ancient Near East. Strong in Palestine and Qumran studies. Uses a French or English interface with French subjects. Search the Library Catalogue or Title field in English and examine hit records to find French subject headings. The gospel of Matthew, for example, is written "Matthieu NT". The advanced search allows you to choose a book, chapter, article, periodical, map, etc. Search indexes for author, series, or subject. The default search operator is AND. Search also with NOT and OR, but not *. Add records to a cart and e-mail the cart.

EndNote Software Discontinued

EndNote is no longer provided as a download and is no longer supported by DTS. For alternatives, see Software for Creating Footnotes and Bibliographies.

Just for Kids

Looking for books, DVDs and CDs for young children? See our new children's collection! Local public libraries and book stores have a wealth of edifying (and sometimes not so edifying) secular material for kids of all ages. But public libraries typically have little religious material for kids. Our collection is meant to complement what you find at the public library and to show you how a church library can minister to children. Located behind the bound periodicals, the books and media are primarily for preschool through sixth grade children, and can be borrowed for three weeks. Works range from classic to contemporary, and we will gradually add new items.

New ATLA Heirarchical Scripture Reference Index

Scripture Reference menu

The ATLA database now supports a new Scripture Reference index to specific chapters and verses of the Bible. Just pick the Scripture menu item as illustrated above.

Scripture Reference expand Dt

The system will respond with a list of books of the bible in canonical order. Select "Expand" to display chapter and then verse-specific choices.

The good news is that a verse-specific selection will match ranges that implicitly include that verse. For example, select Deut 6:5 and you will retrieve not only records that mention that exact verse, but also records that refer to Deut 6:1-7 and Deut 6:1-9. The indexing routine understand 6:5 is included in 6:1-7. Very nice.

This new index is based on the long standing Scripture Citation index and therefore has inherited the coverage limitations of the SC index. Before the end of summer we will update our ATLA documentation to reflect the new SR index and to indicate when using the old SC index is still preferable.

Unicode Fonts for Biblical Studies

Suppose you compose your paper at home, then bring the file to the library computer lab to print using our laser printers. But we don't have the fonts you used for Greek and Hebrew. What happens when you print? How can you prevent this problem? See our introduction to unicode fonts. And learn where to get free fonts.

Software for Creating Footnotes and Bibliographies

Frustrated by the tedium of creating properly formatted footnotes and bibliographies? Struggling to keep track of hundreds or even thousands of sources in your bibliography? See our guide to Software for Creating Footnotes and Bibliographies. Note our new Introduction to Zotero, which provides a very brief explanation of how to use Zotero, including how to import records from EndNote, how to build a database of citations, and how to create footnotes while composing your paper in MS Word. This will be especially valuable for students who have been using EndNote and wish to migrate to Zotero.

New link: Electronic Thesis Online Service (EThOS)

EThOS offers access to full-text doctoral theses from participating UK Higher Education Institutions right to your desktop and usually for free. It contains over 250,000 records at this time (3/2009), but most are non-theological, so don't get too excited. To see a thesis, create a login and check the agreement to honor the conditions of use. After that you may download the thesis to print and/or store it electronically for an unlimited time. If you want to read a thesis that EThOS has not digitized, you may request it from them. Staff from EThOS will inform you when the thesis is ready for download or will let you know if they are unable to make it available. Many UK institutions offer free download to the researcher. A small number of participating institutions do not offer Open Access, and the researcher may have to pay for digitization in that case. EThOS is operated by The British Library on a not-for-profit basis and charges are set only to cover costs.

ATLA subject headings for Bible passages have changed

ATLA has changed the standard form of entry for subject headings about Bible passages. It used to be like this:
Bible (NT) Corinthians I 11-14
but it is now like this:
Bible. Corinthians I 11-14

Note "(OT)" and "(NT)" no longer appear in the headings.

The form of entry for Scripture Citation field searches/browses has not changed. Confused about the distinction between the subject field and the scripture citation field? For a refresher in how to lookup Bible Passages in ATLA, see ATLA Tips.

New link: Calvinism Resources Database

Calvinism Resources Database includes about 10,000 citations for journal articles, book essays, book reviews, and lectures. The list of journals indexed is unavailable but extensive. Browse by subject or author. Search by keyword, title, subject, author, journal, year, or abstract with Boolean AND and OR but no wildcard. Search and mark records. Save or print a bibliography from the marked records. Marks are deleted with a new search. Sorting works imperfectly, and records contain some typos. In some cases you must click a title to go to the fuller record for publication information, but these records cannot be added to a bibliography list. Maintained by the H. Henry Meeter Center for Calvin Studies and available free to all.

New subscription database: Philosopher's Index

Philosopher's Index cites scholarly journal articles, essays, books, and book reviews, published from 1940 to the present in English and major European languages. Most articles and essays are abstracted. PI focuses on aesthetics, epistemology, ethics, logic, and metaphysics, but also includes literature on philosophy of education, history, science, religion and other fields. Try sample searches for religion, faith, free will, theism, interpretation (= hermeneutics), philosophical anthropology (= nature of man), soul and resurrection to get a feel for the range of useful topics covered.

New subscription database: JSTOR

JSTOR includes over 700 full-text scholarly journals in the fields of history, archaeology, classics, the arts, literature, psychology and various sciences, education, language, and much more. Coverage of theology/religion is weak, but this database is a good complement to our religious resources. JSTOR provides complete retrospective access for each journal from the year of inception up to a recent cutoff date, but does NOT supply access to very most recent volumes. (Recent is defined by the publisher but usually means the five most recent years are not available. This is meant to protect income the publishers make from current subscriptions.) Includes articles and book reviews.

Journals in JSTOR are listed in the library ejournal listing. So if you already have a journal citation, go to the ejournal list to see if that journal is included in jstor or one or our other ejournal packages.

You can go directly to JSTOR and search for articles. Search title, author, or full-text; limit by journal or discipline. Browse by discipline, journal, and issue. Use Boolean operators and some fancier features such as synonym expansion. Sorts by relevance, journal title, or year.

You can also use Internet search engines like Google and Yahoo and MSN Live Search to find JSTOR articles. But if you are off the Dallas campus when you search via these search engines, then you will not be able to display the actual articles unless you login to the library proxy server to authenticate your relation to DTS. See our tech note on engaging the proxy authentication mechanism to display articles. This is the most confusing aspect to using JSTOR when you are off campus. It is not an issue when you are on the Dallas campus.

New link: Searchable Greek Inscriptions

The Searchable Greek Inscriptions database currently (May 2007) contains Greek inscriptions from Greece (including Crete, Cyprus, Thrace), the north coast of the Black Sea, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Germany, and unknown provenances organized by period and corpora just like the IG outline. Browse by geographic area or search for words and phrases. Includes all Greek inscriptions formerly on the PHI cdrom, and PHI plans to expand the database. These inscriptions are not included in TLG (which consists of literary texts only). This website requires a Java enabled browser. Available free from Packard Humanities Institute. See our SGI tutorial for a brief intro to searching this database.

New subscription database: TLG cd-rom superseded by TLG Online

For more than a decade we have had access to the TLG cd-rom. But now we have access to the expanded TLG Online. The current online release of Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) includes nearly all surviving Greek texts dating from 8th century B.C. to A.D. 600, and the majority of surviving works up the fall of Byzantium in A.D. 1453. It does not include "non-literary" documents like business records, general correspondence, inscriptions, etc. Find information about the authors and works included in the TLG Library in the Canon of Greek Authors and Works at the TLG website. Wondering what the difference is between Perseus and TLG? Perseus provides convenient English translations for a limited but important body of searchable Greek text. TLG offers no English, but covers far, far more Greek text. Both provide links to LSJ lexicon entries. Use Perseus to save time. Use TLG to be thorough.

Scofield archives

The DTS Archives recently solicited and received a small collection of research material from Dr. William A. BeVier, a DTS alumnus. The collection is composed of correspondence and copies of resources he collected while writing A Biographical Sketch of C. I. Scofield, his masters thesis at SMU in 1960. This collection is significant because it includes copies of several of the limited original resources concerning Scofield, which are housed in various repositories. The collection also gives insight into BeVier's research process and represents a time when photocopiers were not common.

BeVier's collection complements some other small collections in the DTS Archives. In 2002 we received a donation of fifteen letters (forty six leaves) C. I. Scofield wrote to Frank W. Boyle, a pastor Scofield mentored. The Archives staff created a collection of photocopies of documents at Scofield Memorial Church. The material copied included church records related to Scofield and L. S. Chafer as well as a few Scofield Family papers. Another collection in the Archives consists of photocopies of two letters written by Scofield to his daughters. There is also some Scofield material in unprocessed papers related to L. S. Chafer. We are creating records in the library's online catalog to help potential researchers to locate this archival material. The collections have greater value as a group than they have individually, and would be a good starting point for research about Scofield.

New Service: "Due Soon" Early Notice

Always forgetting when your books are due? Want to avoid overdue fines? A new library service may help you. The library now sends "Due Soon" early warning notices two days before borrowed items are due. This reminds users to return or renew the items before they become overdue. This is a courtesy notice. The library is not obligated to remind borrowers just before an item comes due, and failure to receive a notice does not absolve borrowers of responsibility for returning items on time.

New Policy: Early Privileges for Incoming Students

Incoming new students who have registered and paid for the upcoming semester are now extended full student privileges two weeks before their first semester begins so they can work ahead on assignments.

The policy concerning prospective students remains unchanged. Prospective students who have been admitted for an upcoming semester but have not registered and paid for the current semester are not current students and are not eligible for borrowing privileges. Contact the library if you are in this category and have special needs.

New subscription databases: Old Testament Abstracts and New Testament Abstracts

For decades the print vols of OTA and NTA have been mainstays of biblical research. Now Turpin Library provides access to OTA and NTA online.

Old Testament Abstracts and New Testament Abstracts abstract journal articles and essays on the bible, biblical languages, and history and archaeology of the biblical era. Most important English language biblical studies journals and many non-English journals are included. Abstracts are always in English. Emphasis is on scholarly literature, but some popular magazines are included. Many theological viewpoints are represented, but there is some emphasis on Roman Catholic sources. OTA and NTA are available online and also in print. As of July 2005, OTA database held 40,000 records (27,000 journal articles; 7,000 essays; the rest books) for literature dating from 1977 to date, just like the print vols. As of July 2005, NTA database contained 33,000 articles abstracts, 13,800 essay and book abstracts. The NTA database covers publications dating from 1985. On the other hand, print vols of NTA begin with 1956. Eventually the database will be as complete as the print. The print volumes have scripture passage and Greek or Hebrew word indexes, but there are no subject headings so you must browse under broad subject categories outlined in the table of contents for subject access.

DTS grads may now use the ATLAS database

The Library has purchased access to the ATLAS database for DTS graduates. As of 2022, approximately 800,000 articles and book reviews are available, including articles from Bib Sac, JBL, JETS, and a host of important titles. It covers Bible, theology, church history, pastoral ministries, world missions, and more.

Access ATLA from the Electronic Research Resources for Grads page, and login using your @dallasseminary email id, and Microsoft password. ATTEMPTS TO CONNECT FROM OTHER PAGES ON THE LIBRARY WEBSITE WILL FAIL because those other pages require current student logins.