Message from the Library Director

The library at Louisville Seminary has a long history. When the seminary was located in downtown Louisville, the central building of the gothic revival structure contained the Lucy Stites Barret Library. The library had a reception room, large room for social life, a reading room with reference books, librarian’s office, and stack area for 32,000 volumes. The library was named for the wife of James R. Barret, a Ruling Elder in the First Presbyterian Church in Henderson, KY.

Mr. Ernest Miller White

Ernest Miller White was hired in 1945 as library director. He held this position until 1984. Under his leadership the physical facility at the downtown campus and then the Alta Vista campus were designed to house what became a first class theological collection.

With the move to the Alta Vista campus in 1963, “The Library” earned its own building with ample shelf space, large reference room with lots of study space plus individual study carrels in the stack area. By 1979, ground was broken to build an addition to the library that would provide more stack area and study space.

The Library was named the Ernest Miller White Library in 1985, in recognition of his many years of service as librarian for Louisville Seminary.

Dr. Milton J "Joe" Coalter

Dr. Milton J “Joe” Coalter, director from 1985-2004, ushered the library into the computer age and under his direction all the data in the card catalog migrated to an on-line format.  “Morgan” named for graduate F. Morgan Roberts, is the on-line version of the catalog. It provides access to the library’s holdings via the Internet. The Reference room was altered with the addition of a computer lab in 1998, and refurbishment of the remaining space in the room.

The Library - Today

The library today is still changing. In 2001, Library and I.T. Services merged to become one department. The department now has eleven full-time employees.

Dr. Douglas L. Gragg accepted the call to be Director of Library and I.T. Services in 2005, and has taken on the task of leading this theological library into the 21st century.

Join us for a reception in the lobby area of the Ernest Miller White Library at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, October 6, 2008, to open the celebration of Theological Libraries Month. Click here to view photos from the reception.

Check out the books on display in the Lower Level of the Library.

Dr. Douglas L. Gragg, Director of Library and Information Technology Services and Associate Professor of Bibliography and Research will preach at the Chapel Service on Friday, October 12, 2007.

Banned Books Week (Sept. 27 - Oct. 4)

Banned Books Week - Celebrating the Freedom to Read - is observed during the last week of September each year.  Observed since 1982, the annual event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted.

Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the American Library Association (ALA), the Association of American Publishers, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Association of College Stores. The Library of Congress Center for the Book endorses it. More information may be found here. Have you read your banned book yet?

• A Scavenger Hunt to test your library skills. Click here.
• Guess what the Library and I.T. Services staff are reading
• Costume Contest (Oct. 31) - Dress up as your favorite author, literary character, saint, or whatever you can dream up to be a part of the fun
• All during Theological Libraries Month you'll have the opportunity to show your love for the library by writing your favorite library "thing" on a heart-shaped sticky note and put it up on a wall for the whole community to see. The favorite "thing" could be a service, resource, person, place, or publication. You're welcome to fill out a note anytime your heart desires. Or, click on the graphic on the right to send your note via e-mail.

What can you win?

• 1.0 GB SanDisk Cruzer Micro USB Flash Drive
• Specialty food items
• Cool books
• Copy cards

• American Theological Library Association
• Theological Library Associations
• Theological Libraries: Historical Sources