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Anglican/Episcopal
Patrick Milas, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, Convener

MEMBERS PRESENT 

• Patrick Milas, New Brunswick Theological Seminary, Convener
• Mitze Budde, Virginia Theological Seminary
• Duane Harbin, Southern Methodist University
• Alison Poage, Seminary of the Southwest

I. CALL TO ORDER

Members of the Anglican/Episcopal Denominational Group met at 
noon Eastern on July 8.

II. 2020/2021 WORSHIP PLANS

Patrick Milas reported that planning to host worship in Detroit, Mich-
igan, was discontinued when Atla decided not to hold an in-person 
annual conference.

Members expressed interest in hosting a service in the Ft. Worth, 
Texas, area during the 2021 annual conference should it be held 
in-person. Duane Harbin volunteered to help contact local churches 
about hosting or supporting. If the annual conference is not in person, 
the group would like to consider a virtual worship service.

III. GROUP LEADERSHIP

Patrick Milas called for nominations for the role of convener. Milas 
was encouraged to continue serving as convener.



Denominational Group Meetings  37

IV. INSTITUTIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL UPDATES

Patrick Milas, Sage Library at New Brunswick Theological 
Seminary
The Sage Library laments the passing of several significant patrons as 
a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, including: Gregg Mast (president 
emeritus) and Al Janssen (professor emeritus). Russell Gasero, archi-
vist of the Reformed Church in America (located at Sage Library), has 
retired after forty years of distinguished service. Matthew Gasero 
is the new archivist. To accommodate increased reliance on online 
resources, the Sage Library has hired a digital services librarian, 
Michele Mesi. Access to print materials remains limited, but Sage 
Library is offering curbside pick-up of books from the regular circu-
lating collection. Director Patrick Milas has hosted online worship in 
the Episcopal tradition during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Alison Poage, Booher Library at Seminary of the Southwest
In August 2019, a fourth full-time staff member was added to the 
Booher Library’s staff. Marlon Patterson (Mar ’17) assumed the role 
of circulation supervisor, overseeing the student worker staff, inter-
library loan, course reserve management, and general circulation. 
Marlon (a former library student worker) is enrolled in an MLIS 
program at Florida State University and brings his own impressive 
set of library and work experiences to Booher. The staff spent the 
fall restructuring staff responsibilities, getting accustomed to the 
changes, and brainstorming ways in which we could grow services 
in light of the energy Marlon’s presence set free for the director, elec-
tronic resources librarian, and technical services librarian (who had 
all been sharing the responsibilities Marlon was taking over). It was 
a happy time.

Seminary of the Southwest is approaching the end of a campaign 
to raise money to renovate the Booher Library and the adjacent 
classroom building (both opened in 1957). The pre-design phase was 
completed a few years ago, but we anticipate commencing the design 
phase this coming academic year (2020–21). In preparation for a 
closure due to the coming renovation, Booher Library prioritized the 
acquisition of electronic resources. The library made an agreement 
with Overdrive and started circulating those items in January 2020.

The Booher Library has been closed since March 13, 2020 in 
response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The staff worked mainly from 



38  A NNUA L Y E A RBOOK

home March 13–June 1, with Alison checking on the building and 
picking up mail once or twice a week. Alison began serving on the 
seminary’s COVID-19 Task Force, a group that addresses the chal-
lenges brought up by the virus. Student engagement with the library 
was low during the spring and happened primarily through email. 
Alison noted this was a difficult time as the library staff tried to 
balance family obligations and volunteer commitments with work 
from home or were forced to work from an isolated setting.

On June 8, Alison began reporting to the office daily and worked 
primarily with two part-time staff members to initiate a curbside 
circulation service and to make the scanner and the study carrels 
available to students by appointment. On June 7, 2020, Marlon Patter-
son returned to the office and we began to participate in interlibrary 
loan more fully. We will continue to add staff back to the office and 
work a schedule that keeps the number of people in the building low. 
As a result, some staff will still be working remotely each day.

Today our primary focus is a fall reopening plan. Seminary 
courses will be offered primarily online, with some “mixed atten-
dance” experiences in person. We hope to hold prayer services in 
person on the Mott. The library is committed to providing some 
quiet study space to students and plans to allow students access to 
the library by appointment, keeping the number of people in the 
building low and requiring social distancing and masks. At the time 
this report is written, Austin is a COVID-19 hotspot in the country; 
reopening plans may need to be revised based on guidance from 
local authorities. 

Alison looks forward to meeting with the Anglican Denomina-
tional Group via Zoom again in December. 

Mitzi Budde, Payne Library at Virginia Theological Seminary
It was a challenging year! Virginia Theological Seminary moved 
from being a residential face-to-face seminary to entirely online 
literally overnight on March 12, due to COVID. Bishop Payne Library 
became an e-resource library only, with staff working from home. 
We offered a daily Zoom online drop-in hour for seminarians; that 
was well received. We focused on reference outreach, bolstering our 
e-resources, and creating helps of various kinds (LibGuides, a virtual 
library in our learning management system, Facebook posts, and 
email publicity). For summer 2020, we’re offering research Zoom 



Denominational Group Meetings  39

consultations upon request. Our public services librarian, Karen 
Madigan, retired on June 30. The position will remain vacant as the 
seminary has instituted a hiring freeze.

Library staff returned to work on June 3 to prepare for the semi-
nary’s planned renovation of the library building, which is proceed-
ing on schedule. During the COVID closure, the staff selected a core 
collection of 16,000 volumes for the temporary library. We returned 
to work to pull the core collection and coordinate the move of the 
remainder of the library’s collections into off-site storage for the 
coming year. By August 10, the core collection and library opera-
tions will move to another building on campus, which will serve 
as the temporary library for the academic year 2020–21 while the 
Bishop Payne Library building is renovated. The upcoming renova-
tion has three foci:

1) provide new spaces for a variety of learning styles and  
collaboration and create a library commons area;

2) increase accessibility, modernize infrastructure, add fire 
suppression systems, and integrate technology into learning 
spaces;

3) preserve our collections, add compact shelving, increase 
space for archives and rare books, and celebrate the African 
American Episcopal Historical Collection.

We’re calling 2020–21 our year of library innovation and flexibility. 
The library building will be renovated, but the library is not clos-
ing—we are committed to providing library services to the seminary 
community in the temporary library, or even from home if there is 
another pandemic closure.

For 2020–21, the seminary plans to have August term online 
only, and hopes to offer face-to-face classes along with some online 
classes in the fall semester. The fall term will move to fully online at 
Thanksgiving, with January term offered online, and then the semi-
nary hopes to resume face-to-face classes in the spring semester 
beginning in February.

V. CONCLUSION

The group is interested in meeting virtually during Advent. Denise 
McFarlin (Atla) added that Atla can support or host the meeting. The 
meeting adjourned at 1:00 p.m. Eastern.



40  A NNUA L Y E A RBOOK

2019–20 GROUP: [pictured, left to right] Duane Harbin, Mitzi Budde, Alison Poage, 
Patrick Milas


