Cawston Learning Resource Centre (CLRC) Team
BROADENED MIND, CLEARER VISION
Cawston Learning Resource Centre (CLRC) is a
crucial part of the Centre for Global Leadership
Development (CGLD) and supports all the teaching-learning activities taking place through various
schools of CGLD. It was named after our founding
Principal Dr. Alfred Cawston who aimed to expand
into higher avenues of learning and integration of
technology. CLRC is more than just a building. It’s
a symbol of God’s faithfulness to be used for the
spread of the gospel in barrier-breaking ways.
The bright, well-ventilated and automated library
provides ample space for various collections, separate reading space for each collection, a seminar
hall, computer room and various offices for administrative and service purposes.
CLRC collections include books, current and bound
periodicals, digital collection of articles, maps and
optical disks. Presently we have over 45,500 volumes of books and Bound Periodicals. Our collection is divided into general books, reference books,
archives, Pentecostal studies, theses, audio-video
collections, current periodicals, bound Periodicals,
and temporary reserved. Some of our collections
are quite large in number, such as the Pentecostal
studies collection is the best of its kind in India.
Similarly the Religion and Science collection donated by the International Society for Science and
Religion is a well-chosen collection from the publications available from all-over the world. We do
have quite a good collection of resources in Biblical
Studies, Counseling, Christian missions, evangelical
theology and so on.
The Journal article-indexing project has a success
story to tell. Every library staff member, along with
some of the students, worked hard for around
five years to accomplish this huge task. Now the
articles are searchable by the library management
system. We have indexed over 71,000 articles found
in the bound periodicals. This project continues
as we add more and more bound volumes, year
after year. The e-articles collection is a full-text
article collection, which could be copied, printed
or read on the computer itself. Presently we have
over 1,700 articles and it is growing. Our collections
could be accessed from anywhere in the campus
through LAN.
By the grace of God, God enabled us to work along
with librarians of many theological institutions and
contribute to growth and stability of the libraries in
India as well as outside of India. Mr. Stephenson
was part of the various executive committees, while
the associations formed their constitutions, such as
The Forum for Asian Theological Librarians, Indian
Theological Library Association, Joint Library Committee of Bangalore. He also served in the advisory
committee, while the Kerala Theological Library Association formed its constitution. Cawston Learning
Resource Centre trains Librarians, organizes seminars and workshops. Institutions consult us for various needs, including evaluation of the libraries and
advice for the further developments.
The Joint Library Committee of Bangalore (JLC)
is a model association for ecumenical theological
educational unity. The union catalogue developed
by the JLC is being used by several institutions in
India and abroad. The inter-library loan facility of
JLC provides opportunity for libraries to borrow materials from other libraries and help the theological
educators as well as students to use the resources
without payment.
The present library staff inclued, Rev. Stephenson
Manuel, Ps. Ramesh Babu, Mrs. Beatrice Godfrey,
Mrs. Metilda Andrews and Mrs. Annie Ninan.
25