As the powerhouse of academic research at the institution, the SAIACS library boasts over 58,000 books and numerous electronic resources. SAIACS library began in 1982 with a small collection of books—about 200 titles belonging to the founding principal, Dr Graham Houghton—that was held in a wooden almirah. This almirah is still kept in the Chief Librarian’s office to remind us of our humble beginning and in thanks to God for his faithfulness for what the library has today.
At present, the library boasts over 58,000 print books and adds about 1,500 books every year. It has a strong base in Christian studies, along with ample resources in biblical studies, theology, pastoral theology and counselling, and religions. The library subscribes to 200 national and international scholarly journals in print and holds 7,000 back issues. SAIACS library subscribes to full-text electronic databases that are accessible from anywhere. In addition, the library offers non-print materials, including 150 microfilms, 400 microfiches, and over 100 CD-ROM online databases.
The SAIACS library is privileged to have acquired a part of Dr Robert Frykenberg’s library, which includes titles with a special focus on South Asia.
SAIACS library has always been a pioneer in adopting the latest technologies and a model for offering practices for all theological colleges in India. The library is computerized using KOHA, an open-source Integrated Library System (ILS) used worldwide by public schools and special libraries. The library catalogue also is available online (OPAC-Online Public Access Catalogue), and can be accessed from anywhere.
Library Automation
RFID technology was introduced in 2014 to enhance library services. Students now can check out books without the involvement of staff, which facilitates the staff to utilize time for other tasks.
The library also is a member of the Joint Library Committee (JLC) of the Bangalore Theological Library Association, of which 18 colleges in Bangalore are a part. This allows students to consult resources from other libraries and gives them borrowing facilities. This online union catalog provides access to over 3.5 lakhs of bibliographical records from major theological libraries in Bangalore, including SAIACS, St. Peter’s Seminary, Southern Asia Bible College, United Theological College, Vidya Deep College, and New Life College.
An inter-library loan arrangement with overseas theological libraries for journal articles and essays from books fulfills the research needs of students and faculty.
Digital Library
The setting up of an Institutional Repository (IR) and a full-text digital library is planned. This IR will include SAIACS publications, theses submitted to SAIACS, and faculty and student publications.
Electronic Resources
Access to the following electronic resources is IP-authenticated on campus. All students and faculty members are given an ID and password to access these resources off-campus.
For assistance, please contact the library at library@saiacs.org.
- E-Journals
ATLA Religion Database
SAIACS library subscribes to the ATLA Religion Database with serials produced by the American Theological Library Association (ATLA). It is one of the premier indexes in the field of religion, and includes journal articles, book reviews, and collections of essays in all fields of religion. This database claims more than 639,400 article citations from 2,250 journals; more than 275,000 essay citations from over 18,800 multi-author works; more than 920,000 book review citations; and a growing number of multimedia citations. Full text is provided for more than 1.1 million electronic articles and book reviews from 9,600 journals selected by leading religion scholars in the US. The ATLA religion database covers Bible, archaeology, and antiquities; human culture and society; world religions and religious studies; church history, ecumenism; pastoral ministry; and theology, philosophy, and ethics.
JSTOR
The library subscribes to JSTOR, an online database for journal articles and ebooks. JSTOR provides access to more than 12 million academic journal articles, books, and primary sources in seventy-five disciplines. It includes articles of core scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The JSTOR archival collections feature the back issues of more than 2,600 scholarly journals across disciplines. Many JSTOR collections are multidisciplinary and are comprised of several core subjects, including language and literature, history, economics, and political science. All issues—from Volume 1, Issue 1—are provided for every journal, including all previous and related titles. Each journal has a “moving wall,” defined as a time lag between the most current issue published and the content available on JSTOR.
In a special arrangement with TBN, SAIACS has procured over 250 ebooks published by Fortress titles, and they are available in the JSTOR platform.
- Electronic Books
The SAIACS library provides access to a theological and religious ebooks collection through EBSCO Host, which has over 935 full-text ebooks. The collection consists of scholarly, reference, and professional full-text books in electronic format from the world’s leading university presses and commercial publishers, and also includes popular series.
- E-Library
SAIACS also provides access to Questia, the world’s largest online library of copyright-cleared books, with 94,000 full-text books and over three million articles. Questia also includes tools for highlighting text, taking notes, and generating footnotes and bibliographies.
- Other E-Resources
Through partnerships with international libraries, SAIACS has access to academic research databases such as the Religion Philosophy Collection, Academic OneFile, which is a full-text database for journals, and Ebrary for ebooks. Through CD/ROM databases such as Logos Scholars Edition, the library provides over 1,405 e-journals and other important theological resources. Bible Works version is available for exegetical study.
