Librarians Conference IBTS, Prague 7-10 March 2007 Kameliya Slavcheva Antoniya Gidulska

Structure The Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute (BETI) has 4 faculties: United Theological Faculty (UTF - Sofia) Pentecostal Bible College (Sofia) The Church of God Theological College (Stara Zagora) Faculty of NAUCG (Bankya)

Library of UTF At present the Library has more than 10,000 volumes, about 1,000 of which are reference books. The Library uses the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC). CDS/ISIS

The Library at UTF consists of Reading Room (reference books, periodicals). Depository (books). Librarian’s office (the circulation desk, untreated books, CDs, reference books). A computer hall with 12 computers and Internet.

Library of UTF The readers have free access to the books. They can take books and periodicals home. Reference books and CDs can be used only in the library.

Who are our readers? Students in the Residential program (33) Students in the Extension program (16) Students from the Pentecostal Faculty (21) Ex-students (20) Staff and guests (55) Total: 145 readers

Residential – Extension programs Differences: Fewer lecture hours More emphasis on private study

Library of UTF Every user should learn: how to use the electronic catalog how to find the books on the shelves How we help the user to do that?

UTF Library Teaching Resources Course “Introduction to Searching and Writing” Posters with basic instructions in the depository The assistance of a librarian

UTF Library “Introduction to searching and writing” The aims of the above are to teach the students: How to use the library (1 st part) How to write an essay, a thesis, etc. (2 nd part)

UTF Library Part I – steps: I Theory 1. Common rules how to use the library 2. Introduction to the DDC system

UTF Library 3. How to search in the electronic catalog a)By author b)By title c)By subject d)By number of the book

UTF Library II Practical part 1.Exercises in the computer hall how to use the catalog a)Demonstration b)Individual exercises

UTF Library Practice 2. Exercises in the library: The students must learn how to find the books on the shelves

UTF Library III The examination (an example) 1.The student must demonstrate he/she can search by subject in the catalog 2.The professor chooses one title from the results 3.The student must go to the library, find the book and bring it to the professor

UTF Library Second part: The students learn how to design research paper, putting in practice what they already know from the first part. The examination is an essay.

The UTF Website Includes: “Writing Guide for Seminar Papers, Treatises and Thesis” Examples of Bibliographic description A Spelling Dictionary (in Bulgarian) (

Free Online Electronic Resources To help: -The students -The professors The resources are available in English, Bulgarian and Russian. The printed version of the list is in the computer hall.

UTF Library Every student in the Residential program must help in the library one week per semester: Labelling books, adding bar-codes, etc. Re-shelving books Listing new books (donations) by author, title, price, etc.

UTF Library An additional practice: The students can choose to do this practice in the library The consequences: They learn more about the work in the library They can help the other users

UTF Students in the Residential Program sorted by nationality: Bulgarians - 23 Moldavians - 9 Macedonian - 1

Problems and solutions Problems: Most of the students have difficulties reading in English Most of the books in the library are in English The library does not possess some of the books our users need

Problems and solutions Solutions: This year UTF started an intensive course in English for the students in the 1 st year of the Residential program The library set up an interlibrary loan exchange with the library of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”

UTF Library Interlibrary Loan – the teachers advise the librarian in advance the bibliography for their courses If titles are unavailable in our library, we try to provide them by Interlibrary loan

Why this library? Sofia University has a Theological Faculty (Orthodox) Their library is one of the biggest libraries in Bulgaria They receive as a legal deposit everything published in Bulgaria

Interlibrary loan This is helpful for us in some disciplines like: Patristic Theology Church history Interpretation of the New Testament Etc….

Interlibrary loan New! We receive some of the articles digitalized by The user can choose how to receive the materials: Printed File 2. It’s free.

Thank you for your attention Antoniya Gidulska Kameliya Slavcheva Library of the United Theological Faculty of The Bulgarian Evangelical Theological Institute