LITS Blog

(as of May 2021)

Since 2012, First Fruits Press has provided an opportunity for Asbury Theological Seminary to reach out globally and provide free academic resources in the form of books, journal articles, and academic papers. There have currently been almost 900,000 downloads of First Fruits material from 226 countries. There has also been a dramatic increase in downloads due to the recent pandemic in 2020 as many libraries and institutions were forced to temporarily close access to their materials. The distribution of downloads can be seen on the map below:

First Fruits material has been downloaded in every area of the world, with North America making up roughly half of the downloads, but Europe, Africa, and Asia about equally distributed around 12-15% each. Latin American access is growing as we add more Spanish language material, but even hard to reach areas, such as the Middle East are able to access First Fruits. The distribution of downloads by region is shown here:

The top ten nations for downloads of First Fruits materials since we started in 2012 are:

1. United States- 409,984
2. United Kingdom- 37,513
3. Nigeria- 34,358
4. Canada- 34,169
5. India- 26,567
6. Philippines- 25,068
7. China- 18,233
8. South Africa- 17,437
9. Kenya- 17,065
10. Australia- 15,629

Asbury Theological Seminary has made a dramatic impact in the global academic world through its resources provided through First Fruits Press, including The Asbury Journal, The Journal of Inductive Bible Study, and Faith and Philosophy. As we move into the future, we are well positioned to supply material from a Wesleyan-Holiness perspective to all areas of the world to further learning and research opportunities for the Global Church.

There has been a new search enhancement to the Library Catalog! Now, after you complete a search there are buttons that appear to continue your search in three other systems: ILL, EBSCO, and JSTOR. So, if you don't see what you're looking for in the search results you can search another one of our systems with a single click! Choose ILL if you need to request a book from another library; choose EBSCO if you want to expand to journal articles from EBSCOhost; choose JSTOR to search their collection of journals and ebooks.

It's a few days into Black History Month and a new resource was shared with me just last week that I want to share with our community. It's the Black Freedom Struggle in the United States database from ProQuest. There is a lot in this database we need to remember because much of it we do not want to repeat. This is important information for all of us to read, learn, and remember. The struggle depicted in these documents must lead us all to recommit to freedom and equality for all people. 

Take a moment to read the About page on this site and study these documents. The latest TV show you want to binge watch can wait. 

With the new library catalog, placing a hold for a book has a new process. When you click on a title in the catalog there is a holdings section below the bibliographic information. Click on the "Place a Hold for this Title" and login to place your hold.

Take a look at the link below for details:

https://helpdesk.asburyseminary.edu/portal/en/kb/articles/placing-a-hold-on-a-book

You’ll notice that there’s a new LITS webpage underway. We have gotten a lot of great feedback and we want more! Let me confirm that what some have suspected is true: that the old single search box only appeared to be more comprehensive but was, in reality, not helping searchers find all of the information they needed to complete their research. So, this new page is built to require one question to be answered: Do I want books, journal articles, or some other type of data? Most of our researchers need journal articles and books.

The systems that house both of these bits of information do not mix well to provide the most relevant results in your search. So, if you want to find the best of all of these you will need to search the library catalog for books and then search EBSCO and JSTOR for journals (you may even want to pick a specific journal database from our complete list of databases when you’re working on a very specific topic).

Make a research appointment with our research librarian if you have any questions!

First Fruits Press releases a New Book:

The Demise of the American Holiness Movement

by Darius L. Salter

First Fruits is proud to announce the release of a new work by Dr. Darius Salter. The Demise of the American Holiness Movement is a critical retrospective on the history, theology, and social conditions that have shaped this movement. Dr. Salter brings his own rich background knowledge of the subject, alongside his experience as an elder in the Church of the Nazarene and a former Executive Director of the Christian Holiness Association, to present a deep analysis of the entire American Holiness Movement and the various problems it encountered along the way. This work is expected to stir debate and encourage other scholars in the field to respond with their own assessments in trying to understand the movement as a whole as well as thinking more deeply about its future impact on the Church.

Yeah, we’re almost halfway through January. That’s how fast time flies these days. Wherever you find yourself, we hope that you are staying healthy and connected. God’s people are united in Christ regardless of societal circumstances

LITS has been working hard to get things up and running this year and classes are set to resume on campus on January 19th (unless new decisions are made). So, look for the BL Fisher Library to be open to 9pm Monday-Friday and from 10-2 on Saturdays starting on the 19th.

Blessings for a Grace-Filled New Year!

The Artstor Digital Library offering 3 million images from leading museums, photo archives, scholars, and artists will be available through the end of this year! This digital library includes many rare and important collections available nowhere else. These collections are rights-cleared for use in education, encompass a wide variety of disciplines, and are presented alongside a set of specialized tools for teaching and learning.

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS!
 

Our semester has just begun and let me say "Welcome" from LITS (Library, Information, and Technology Services)!

If you're new to the Seminary and find yourself coming to campus, here's a video that briefly overviews the B. L. Fisher Library building. if you will be mostly online, feel free to check out our Library Workshops to help you get started with your research and resource finding!

We're happy to have you as a part of our community, locally and around the world!

The Seminary is working hard to keep services available as we all manage the social and physical responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The following resources are the Seminary's official response. In summary, wear a mask and maintain a physical distance from others where practicable.