36 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