Holy Spirit Parish Library

A Brief History

Many of you may be surprised to learn that our Parish Library dates all the way back to 1984.  Father Joe Toole, pastor at the time, recognized the need for resources to support parishioners in their various ministries as well as in their own spiritual journeys, and thus started a small lending collection.  Included in that fledgling collection of materials was the 17-volume New Catholic Encyclopedia and Aquinas’ Summa Theologica, as well as many other spiritual classics.  When planning commenced for our new church building, Father Toole insisted that space be allocated for a library and so our present room with its beautiful oak shelving came into being.  Later a small group of volunteers under the leadership of Susan Suttie classified the collection and inserted pockets and borrowers’ cards in all the books.

About this time the Diocesan Synod was underway and, in the process of its discussions, one of the cell groups suggested that our library be expanded to include Christian videos (such as you are unable to rent at video stores) and a good collection of up-to-date books on Catholic/Christian parenting.  In February 1993, the original group, comprising Laurelle Rodych, Susan Duckett, Patricia Terry, and Sheila Stevenson, commenced cataloguing the collection with a view to creating a true lending library.  In late spring we approached Father Toole, who was about to be transferred to High River, and asked if we might have some “seed money” to get our dream going.  He gave us his blessing and agreed to give us an initial sum of $1000.  With that we set out to purchase some good Christian/Catholic videos for children as well as the latest books on Catholic parenting.

We also did some investigative work on the best way to organize the library.  After touring a number of other Church libraries in the area, we decided on a classification scheme using broad subject categories and color-coded dots, a user-friendly system which allowed us to retrieve materials without the aid of a card catalogue.

In October 1993 we opened our doors to the parishioners of Holy Spirit.  The library has grown steadily since its modest beginnings.  From a few hundred volumes and one shelf of videos when we first opened, the collection has grown to comprise 2157 books, 288 videos and 12 periodical titles(as at March 6, 1999). Circulation has also increased remarkably. In one month alone, February 1999, we loaned out 146 books and 198 videos!!

These kinds of statistics require an enthusiastic and dedicated staff of volunteers and in this we have been very blessed.  In addition to the 34 volunteers who sign out materials after all weekend masses, we have a core group of 7 persons who spend anywhere from two to six hours per week selecting, ordering, processing, classifying, and cataloguing  materials and keeping track of circulation.

Even when we began the library in 1993, we saw the need for author, title and subject indexes to the collection.   Laurelle Rodych did the groundbreaking work (along with husband Ken) and spent countless hours keying information into the database.  When Laurelle returned to full-time employment, Mamie VanKampen took over this detail-oriented task and we are proud to say that we now have very professional-looking computer-produced author, title, and subject listings for our entire collection as well as a searchable, computerized catalogue.  Many thanks to Bridget and Basil Dobek who have assisted Mamie in this monumental task. 

Whereas the infamous fire of May 1998 wreaked havoc everywhere else in the Church, the Library’s contents and its oak shelving emerged fairly unscathed from the disaster.  The fire even opened up two opportunities for the library which might not otherwise have presented themselves:

In June – October 2002, library volunteers completed another inventory and used this opportunity to “weed out” materials which were dilapidated, out-of -date or inappropriate for the collection. 

The Library is now a vital part of our growing community at Holy Spirit, and those of us on the Library Committee are excited and encouraged by this ever-changing, ever enlightening, and ever-growing ministry.

Parish Library Co-coordinators

Susan Duckett      Sheila Stevenson