2025

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work….” Exodus 20:8-10 NKJV

I’ve worked in academic libraries for 37 years: 19 at Indiana University, 12 at Point Loma Nazarene University, and 6 at Lenoir-Rhyne University. All three institutions had some kind of faculty status for librarians, and all three allowed for promotion in rank, service on faculty committees, and other faculty responsibilities and benefits. For the most part, I think faculty status has been a strong positive for libraries and librarians. With these systems in place, I was promoted several times, received tenure at two different institutions, and served in leadership roles on faculty committees at all three institutions.

^“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NIV

When we are facing adversity and a spiritual battle, it is easy to blame God and to beg Him to remove us from it. “Why me?”  is something that easily falls from our lips instead of gratitude and worship. We think if we are doing battle, God is picking on us, or just AWOL. Libraries and librarians, as well as Christians, are facing a lot of adversity and uncertainty currently, and many of us are facing them in our personal lives as well.