FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF REGIONAL THEOLOGICAL LIBRARIANSHIP AND MISSION ARCHIVISTS FORUM AND PROGRAMMES ASIA WIDE*

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Karmito

Introduction

Librarianship and archives are in the midst of a great change. It is a traumatic one for many, in part because rapid change has not been an aspect that librarianship and archives have generally had to deal with; these two fields have remained stable for many years. Since the late nineteenth century, whatever changes have occurred have been slow and evolutionary, not revolutionary, and the role of the librarian and archivist have relatively constant for more than a hundred years. Not that these two fields have been stagnant, but the demands that have been placed on them and the expectations of library and archives users have been relatively constant.

As a matter of fact, however, libraries and archive centres in one form or another, have been around a very long time. They satisfy a fundamental need of society: the need to have the society’s records readily accessible to the citizenry.  Now there are so many records a library or an archive centre can not conceivably store them all and although the place where records are stored may change in the future, the society continues to need access to organized information. In connection with such a need, with the development of computers, internet and other information technology, there is a great demand for theological library and mission archive centre automation.  Furthermore, as more Asian churches are approaching their 50 or 100 year anniversaries, many church leaders are concerning their histories and their church archives. Training on mission and church archives is not only important for individual church, but also essential for preserving Asian church history and their long relationship with missionary agencies as a whole. Missionary and church related archival materials in the region should be well organized if the mission and church archives centres would be having the future. In the context of Asian theological seminaries, most probably many theological librarians are also archivists in practice and so they have taken on a lot of responsibilities.

 

In accordance with the main purpose of the conference to wit among other things are seeking to support and encourage on the needs of the regions the work of preservation of mission and church archives and documentation; initiating plans for representation to and cooperation with professional archive groups, international agencies, ecclesiastical bodies and mission societies; and encouraging the establishment of regional networks;[1] in line with these purposes theological librarians and mission archivists must address at least the following issues:

1. Issues of which records should be stored: what type of records and who should have access them, and
2. Issues of stewardship – part of our obligation to be as efficient as possible with the resources, including time, that are available to us, as well as to convey to future generations the resources they will need to carry on.
3. Issues of for what purpose in establishing forum, or association?
4. Issues of how theological librarians and archivists share knowledge and experience through professional associations and cooperative activities.
5. Issues of how theological librarians and archivists to assist the professional growth of others with less training or experience.

This presentation seeks to reveal the contributing factors available in the area of Asian theological librarians and archivists to join together in establishing a kind of regional forum, or association to accommodate their programmes.

 

Who Will Lead The Way

It should be kept in mind that mission archive is the memory of peoples and nations, and their respective political structures about mission works.  Therefore, archives, as simply stated in the Pastoral Function of Archives “are places of memory for the Christian community and a storehouse for the new evangelisation.”[2] In this sense mission archives must be dealing with the past mission history to wit those materials that records the works of God acted out in the lives of men and women.

Based on such kind of archival records mission scholars boldly stated that, in Indonesian cases, Gospels spread out in Indonesia because of the three G’s:  Gold, God, and Glory.

At the end of the 16^th and the beginning of the 17^th centuries the motives of commerce moved the Dutch and British nations to sail to the countries of the East, and with this Protestant Christian missions also gained the opportunity to spread their wings. A history of Western mission was just officially in the beginning for the Dutch East Indies (Now, Indonesia).

As Christianity spread from the western world together with western colonialism to Asia back in the early 16^th century and on then,  so to some degree western mission history and its archives must be belonged to Asian Churches history.  However, in a contrary  as a matter of fact those valuable records of western Christians mission works are not available instantly in most Asian churches so far. There was seemingly no encouragement from the western missionary agencies given to the local churches to preserve ‘our mission heritages.’  In the cases of Indonesian churches evidently revealed by for instance such a publication entitled ‘Tot Heil Van Java’s Arme Bevolking’: Een keuze uit het Dagboek (1851-1860) van Pieter Jansz, doopsgezind zendeling in Jepara, Midden-Java,[3] and of course those recently scientific dissertations on mission and cultural studies which had done by Indonesian scholars.[4]  Those kind of publication and dissertations mostly had relied heavily upon the resources available at the mission libraries and archives centres whether in European Countries [The Netherlands, Germany, etc.] or United States, since such an ample mission records and materials are not available in Indonesia. Such kind of lacking resources phenomena must be unfair, and therefore too expensive to be able to collect and to obtain to ‘our mission heritages’ for people coming from the former colonized and underdeveloped countries. It seemed annoying that the mission archives of Asian churches and religious communities---whose numbers inter-regionally are surely not small---apparently received little notice.

 

It is interesting fact to point out that based on the second edition of the DATL compilations [5] out of  66 theological libraries there are four (4) archive centres explicitly attached with and under the coordination with the theological library. And there are 16 theological libraries store their archives and indigenous writings collections. Thus, those archives collections are collections within theological library administration and management to which the librarians must have overall control though relatively are small and simple. 

For this reason it is worthy to claim that many Asian theological librarians are also archivists in practice. They are people who practically well concerned and knowing that there are ‘great differences among budgets, resources, administrative organization and work quarters’ in what so called double functions of most Asian theological libraries. They are also dedicated human resources, even part-time, to the [mission] archives, supplies---includes storage shelves, archival boxes and folders in which to house materials---, and a secure space where material can be stored, processed, and accessed. This kind of ‘theological librarian-archivists’ may have little training and limited time to dedicate to this mission archive project, still he or she can be a valuable resource to mission organization or agency and will need the highest level of administrative support. For the sake of the world Christian community as well as for its contributions to the academic world, therefore, churches, theological libraries, and missions must operate on the premise that ‘faithfulness for the future requires faithfulness to the past.’

 

In supporting to this premise, it’s apparently encouraging that in the South East Asia Graduate School of Theology operated by The Association of Theological Education in South East Asia leading to the master and doctoral degree programmes; there are 24 professors on Mission Studies and 22 professors on Church History.[6]  These two major interwoven studies certainly have something to do with the archival and documentation issues of Christian history and mission in the region.

Therefore, there should be two main key groups of players in the preservation of mission archives located and coordinated with theological libraries to wit:

1. The missionary groups and faculty members on mission studies involve in founding and in building mission archival materials.
2. The theological librarians with more adequate in archival training.

The missionary groups and those mission studies and church history scholars (Missiologists-and Church Historian) can lead the way in the endeavour to establish theological librarians and mission archivists forum in the region because of the sensitive they have developed as historians of faith, historians of culture, and historians of the interactions between faith and culture.

 

Concluding Remarks

To conclude, it is worth noting that there so many factors contributing to the establishment of the theological librarianship and mission archivists regional forum to facilitate programmes and activities. And though, practically speaking, there are some languages barriers to dig up “our mission heritages,” such kind of regional forum could offer ‘the bridges’ to overcome those constrains. If the regional forum for theological librarianship and mission archivists do have some credibility, and as something visible, it is appropriate to assert that such forum or association should be designed to provoke thought, inspire creativity and strengthen leadership. Such regional forum would benefit members: theological libraries and mission archives centres among other things by:

q       Enabling theological librarians and mission archivists of the region to develop a clearer vision of the world of global mission and theological librarianship trends by highlighting important topical issues and suggesting new ways of exploring resources and exploiting opportunities.

q       Enhancing the practical skills and abilities of members of the top team responsible for leading and directing the forum and the organisation tasks for the support of Third World Christian archives.

q       Initiating plans for representation to and cooperation with theological expert librarians, scholars on church history and mission studies, professional archives groups, international agencies, ecclesiastical bodies and mission societies, so that archives on ‘our mission heritages’ can be used for the empowerment and identity of ordinary people and minorities.

 

The establishment of the Regional Forum of Theological Librarianship and Mission Archives Centres is just an embryonic ideas. Within the Asian region there are indeed much to do and even more to be learned. Assuming that Regional Theological Librarianship and Mission Archivists Forum and Programmes is going to be exist, this Forum needs the support of individuals like you. Join us in establishing the Forum.

 

 

 

Yogyakarta, September 17, 2002

The Library

Duta Wacana United Theological College/Christian University

Jl. Dr. Wahidin 5-19 Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 55224.

http://www.ukdw.ac.id

http://www.ukdw.ac.id/catalog/

(In Bahasa Indonesia/Indonesian)