Library Review – Women and Religion in North
America (TRS 160)
2011
Introduction
After reviewing the proposed syllabus for this course in light of the library resources available
for its implementation, I think it would be best practice to review the entire collection
(especially those materials available through interlibrary loan) in all its various formats to see if
the breadth and depth of those materials available for research in this subject.
This review is best performed by investigating the Library of Congress Subject Headings which
would best describe this course and making judgments concerning the quality and quantity of
each document type; in the following narrative, each unique document type will be covered
and a conclusion presented at the end of this report.
Monographs : Stacks & Reference
There are a number of Library of Congress Subject Headings which describe the many facets of
research covered by this topic. I have chosen the most prominent nine (9) subject headings to
give an idea of the breadth and depth of available materials. The library collection currently
contains approximately 430 titles in these subject areas. While the union catalog Link+ (the
union catalog of over 120 libraries in California and Nevada of which Saint Mary’s College is a
member), contains over 4,000 monographic titles in these subject areas, it is important to
remember that a library resources review of this type should only be concerned with those
materials currently held by Saint Mary’s College. A breakdown of the library’s collection is
given below:
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS SUBJECT HEADING
Feminism – Religious Aspects
Feminist Spirituality
Femininity of God
Goddess Religion
Women – Religious Aspects
Women – Religious Aspects – Christianity
Women – Religious Life
Women and Religion
Women in Christianity
TOTAL
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Monographs in
ALBERT
78
6
8
16
62
42
49
82
86
429
Library Review – Women and Religion in North
America (TRS 160)
2011
There are also a number of excellent reference titles in this subject area which are available to
students in the Saint Albert Hall Library; these titles are listed below:
200.973 B441
Benowitz, June Melby.
Encyclopedia of American women and religion / June Melby Benowitz.
Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, c1998.
261.8344 W168
Walsh, Mary-Paula.
Feminism and Christian tradition : an annotated bibliography and critical introduction
to the literature / Mary-Paula Walsh.
Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press, c1999.
291.17834 K284
Encyclopedia of women and religion in North America / edited by Rosemary Skinner
Keller and Rosemary Radford Ruether ; associate editor, Marie Cantlon.
Bloomington : Indiana University Press, c2006.
291.17834 Y87
Encyclopedia of women and world religion / edited by Serinity Young.
New York : Macmillan Reference USA, c1999.
Audiovisual Materials
There are also a number of excellent audiovisual titles in this subject area which are available to
students in the Saint Albert Hall Library; these titles are listed below:
DVD BB982
Anchoress [videorecording] / an International Film Circuit release ; the British Film Institute and
Corsan Productions present ; written by Judith Stanley-Smith, Christine Watkins ; producers,
Paul Breuls, Ben Gibson ; directed by Chris Newby.
New York, NY] : Vanguard, c2005.
DVD S301
Jesus decoded [videorecording] : Catholic belief versus modern fiction / produced and directed
by Christopher A. Salvador ; written and produced by Judith Ann Zielinski ; NewGroup Media ;
[a production of] the Catholic Communication Campaign.
Washington, D.C. : USCCB Publishing, c2006.
DVD S688.
Religions of the book [videorecording] : women serving religion.
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Library Review – Women and Religion in North
America (TRS 160)
2011
Princeton, NJ : Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 2003.
VHS S204
Windows to understanding [videorecording] / produced by Journey Communications.
Washington, D.C. : Publishing Services, United States Catholic Conference, 1992.
VHS S1446
Goddess remembered [videorecording] / direction, Donna Read ; writing, D.C. Blade, Donna
Read, Gloria Demers.
New York : Wellspring Media, 1999, c1989.
VHS S1448
Full circle [videorecording] / director/editor, Donna Read ; commentary writer,
Donna Read with Judith Murray, Starhawk, Judith Leigh ; producers, Heather Marshall, Donna
Read.
New York : Wellspring Media, 1999, c1992.
VHS S1456
Coping with scientific and social change [videorecording] : Christianity in the 19th and 20th
centuries / an LWT/Bravo co-production in association with CTVC ; director, Bob Bee.
Princeton, NJ : Films for the Humanities & Sciences, c1999.
Databases:
The two major journal databases in the field of theology are ATLA (the database of the
American Theological Library Association) and CPLI (the Catholic Periodical and Literature
Index). Saint Mary’s College subscribes to both of these databases and they provide the chief
resource for journal articles in this particular subject area. Using the subject headings
previously investigated for monographic works, we can see the following results for a search of
the journal literature:
SUBJECT HEADING
Feminism – Religious Aspects
Feminist Theology
Femininity of God
Goddess Religion
Women – Religious Aspects
Women – Religious Aspects – Christianity
Women – Religious Life
Women and Religion
Women in Christianity
Articles in ATLA
TOTAL
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0
2750
357
255
0
0
0
223
2106
5691
Articles in CPLI
71
277
36
6
0
0
0
292
65
747
Library Review – Women and Religion in North
America (TRS 160)
2011
Conclusion and Recommendation:
Students doing research in this course will find generally adequate journal literature to use,
measured both in quantity and quality. However, there are areas which are in desperate need
of strengthening, should this course be offered. There is an extremely small number of
reference and audiovisual titles available for students in the Saint Albert Library, a fact which
calls for further expenditures in both areas to fortify both collection formats. Probably most
serious is the monograph collection, for which there are only about 430 titles available in the
Saint Albert Library. While interlibrary loan can support this collection, it may not be adequate
in and of itself to bring the circulating collection to the point of supporting this course. Also, it
must be remembered that materials obtainable through interlibrary loan are not always
available in a timely manner. Certainly, extra collection funds will have to be expended to
support this area of the collection, should this course be approved.
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