The Marian Library at the University of Dayton

The Marian Library/International Marian Research Institute focuses research and collections concerning Mary, mother of the Christ Jesus. The library is hosted at the University of Dayton, in Ohio. This is an example of a specialized library; one with a religious focus.

The mission of the library is to provide information about Mary, the Mother of Jesus, to collect literature and art that focuses on Mary and to maintain connections with the Marian community.

From the library website:

• over 100,000 books and pamphlets in some fifty languages, ranging from the invention of printing in the fifteenth century to the present
• more than 63,000 clippings from newspapers and magazines
• nearly 100,000 cards depicting Mary in the art of all ages and numerous Marian shrines. (i.e., if we count the postcards, Christmas cards, holy cards, and prints of various sizes).

You can search for the library holdings via a Marian specific Google Search. This will reflect those holdings that have a connection to Marian research.

On-Line Collection of Marian Art and Research

The library maintains a collection of art with Mary as the primary focus. There are traditional and contemporary paintings of Mary in a variety of styles and interpretations.

Marian Poetry Collections

There is a huge collection of Mary inspired poetry at the site. There are seasonal poetry, poetry of praise, assistance and poetry by John Donne, Pier Paolo Pasolini, in Italian, and Thomas Merton.

This is an opportunity to explore a topic or a collection you may not have been aware of it existence. It is also a great reason to check out the art gallery.

Opening A Closed Mind - My Own

Well, my toe bones are starting to recover. I wore the poor things out trying to hit every exhibit in the Anaheim Convention Center in one day. Evelyn was there the whole time and it is amazing what she saw and witness. She wall all over the joint.

We both are going to try to give you the highlights of the convention and draw upon some of the resources we packed away. We have got stuff. Bags of stuff. But not as much stuff as we could have had if we had my rolling supermarket cart (the vertical, not the horizontal kind.)

At some point we won't necessarily say we learned or had an experience the convention but it might take a month or two of sorting and reviewing what we have snagged.

The One That Got Away

Yes, about the photo. This is my reminder about preconceived notions and bias. This was one of the first tables I saw as I entered the Convention Center. I looked at the table and read some of the titles. They appeared to be Christian focused. My guard went up. I kinda, sorta read the title and the sub-title, "America's Addition to Porn."

I backed away from a free book. I should not have done that. The more I thought about it afterwards the more I regretted it. But not enough to try to find that table again. I gave up an opportunity to understand a different perspective on how some folks feel about the public and semi-private displays of the time honored YouBangHe or Her discussions.

As I moved though the convention there were all kinds of vendors and exhibitors. Some I gravitated to, some I questioned and others I had heard of via the media. Others vendors I kept my distance. I flat out did not trust them or their content. No need for names.

Lessons Learned

Whatever my believe system or my feeling about commercial displays of carnality, I should have at least flipped it in my bag for a later review.

For the record, I backed away because I was fearful. I'm not sure what being a Christian means (and please don't try to tell me. That is not the point of the post.) so I had an image of what mainstream media tells me and that is kinda scary to me.

I also have my feelings about erotica, sexual information and individual rights. If I plan to work in libraries I have to find a better way to balance the fears with the pursuit of knowledge.

It is not as easy as it sounds. I am still taking the logs out of my eyes.