McCartney Library is an

academic library An academic library is a library that is attached to a higher education institution and serves two complementary purposes: to support the curriculum and the research of the university faculty and students. It is unknown how many academic librar ...

located on the campus of

Geneva College Geneva College is a private Christian college in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1848, in Northwood, Ohio, the college moved to its present location in 1880, where it continues to educate a student body of about 1400 traditional undergr ...

Beaver Falls Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. The building is named after the influential evangelical minister Dr. Clarence E. Macartney who grew up in Fern Cliffe House when the college moved to Beaver Falls in 1880. Today, the library consists of more than 400,000 items available to students and professors as well as surrounding community members. There is an online database for the library, and also an online catalog called "MacCat". The library includes a newly refurbished media center located on the ground floor and also houses collections of books about the college and the history of the

Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) is a Presbyterian church with congregations and missions throughout the United States, Canada, Japan, and Chile. Its beliefs—held in common with other members of the Reformed Presbyteria ...

, along with many other sources in the Covenanter Collection, the Geneva Author Collection, and Dr. Macartney's private collection; developed over the 160-year history of Geneva College.

Mission statement

The McCartney Library's mission is to provide the students, faculty, and friends of Geneva College with the information service, books, journals, pamphlets, microforms, electronic data, audio-visual media, and instructional presentation materials needed to educate and minister to a diverse Christian learning community. Library materials and service are for the purpose of developing servant-leaders and to assist them in transforming society for the Kingdom of Christ. To this end, the Library collects, organizes, and circulates the learning resources in an efficient and effective manner to meet their general informational and recreational needs, and to encourage the development of lifelong learning skills.

History

In the 1930s, S.J., E.J., and S.M. Deal (three sisters from Clarence E. Macartney's congregation) donated the funds for the construction of a college library in honor of their pastor. They employed architect and designer, William G. Eckles, who also designed Geneva's Johnston Gymnasium and McKee Hall, to design the library. More on the architecture and history of the constructing of the library can be found in the book, ''Pro Christo et Patria: A History of Geneva College,'' by David M. Carson. Some of the most notable features of the library are the beautiful and ornate stained glass windows, which were created by Harry Lee Willet, a friend of Macartney and a prominent glass maker who owned one of the largest glass making companies in the United States. The Reading Rooms of the library each house a glass window high. One of the windows depicts

John Bunyan John Bunyan (; baptised 30 November 162831 August 1688) was an English writer and Puritan preacher best remembered as the author of the Christian allegory ''The Pilgrim's Progress,'' which also became an influential literary model. In additio ...

's ''

The Pilgrim's Progress ''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of the ...

'', and the other,

John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem ''Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and polit ...

's ''

Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674 ...

''. The history of the Paradise Lost window and the story that is told by it is given in the book ''Paradise Lost Windows: A Story in Lead and Light'' by Shirley J. Kilpatrick and M. Howard Mattsson-Bozé, two Geneva professors. The library has also hosted community and regional conferences for several non-profit and for-profit organizations.

Willet Windows

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One notable feature of the Library is its stained glass windows. Henry Lee Willet of Willet Stained Glass Studios, was commissioned by the Deal sisters to design and produce both of the eighteen-paneled windows in each reading room of the McCartney Library. Willet, who was a close friend of Clarence E. Macartney, was thrilled to take the project. Willet was one of the foremost stained glass makers of his time. Among his other commissions are windows at the Chapel at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

, the

Washington National Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the ca ...

and the Chapel of the U.S. Military Academy at

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

. Willet Studios still exists, having merged in 2005 with the Hauser Art Glass Company to become the

Willet Hauser Architectural Glass Willet Hauser Architectural Glass, Inc is a North American stained glass firm located in Winona, Minnesota that specializes in the design, fabrication, preservation and restoration of leaded stained glass and faceted glass windows. The studio, on ...

. It is the largest stained glass company in North America, and has creations in over 14 countries. The Library's Reading Rooms house the two windows, each standing fifteen feet tall. One of the windows provides an artistic depiction of

's ''

'', and the other is a depiction of

's ''

''.

Deal Carillon

Another feature of the library building is the Deal Carillon located in the building's bell tower. The Deal Carillon is an array of 14 bells, ranging in weight from 350 to 3,000 pounds. The bells were cast by the

McShane Bell Foundry The McShane Bell Foundry, located in St. Louis, Missouri, is a maker of church bells founded in 1856. Over the past 150 years, the firm has produced over 300,000 bells. In 2019, the company moved its headquarters from Glen Burnie, near Baltimor ...

, one of the oldest foundries in the United States. They are also inscribed with psalms and excerpts from Alfred, Lord Tennyson's '' In Memoriam''. The Deal Carillon has the special McShane Chime Ringer system, which enables the Carillon to be played as a musical instrument by using a special keyboard.

McCartney Library Collections

McCartney Library contains a variety of special collections, many of which have been donated to the library.

Main Collection

The main collection is housed on all four levels of the Library. The largest of the Library's collections, it consists of books on numerous subjects that users may check out for a loan period of 21 days.

Reference Collection

The Reference collection, which is located primarily in the Buhl Reference Center, contains dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other resources to provide basic information on a variety of subject areas. The Buhl Reference Center also houses several computers designated for screening the Library's online databases and CD-ROM collection.

Reserve Collection

This collection consists of items that instructors place on “reserve” to assure that the students in a particular course will have access to them. Most reserve materials are shelved at Circulation Services, although newspapers and media are kept in the Media Center. Reserve materials are either “library use only” (two-hour loan) or may circulate for one, two, or seven days per the professor's request.

Periodicals Collection

The

periodicals A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) is a published work that appears in a new edition on a regular schedule. The most familiar example is a newspaper, but a magazine or a journal are also example ...

collection on the Library's ground floor consists of both current and back issues of the

magazines A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combina ...

, journals, and

newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sport ...

to which the Library subscribes. Printed indexes, which provide citations by topic to specific periodical articles, are also part of this collection.

Geneva Author Collection

The Geneva Author collection is composed of works written by College faculty, staff, alumni, and students. The collection is showcased in the “Geneva Author Shelf,” founded by the Helen Patterson Hill Library Endowment. There are over 2,000 items in the collection.

Microform Collection

The microform collection, located in the Periodicals area on the ground floor, contains

microfiche Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original document size. F ...

microfilm Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original document size. F ...

, microcards, and ultramicrofiche. Among the materials that the Library owns in these media are back issues of journals and newspapers, the

Early American Imprints Early American Imprints is a digital and microopaque card (not the more common microfiche) collection produced by Readex. It is based on Charles Evan's (1850 - 1935) '' American Bibliography.'' Ralph Shaw (1907–72) and Richard Shoemaker's (1907 ...

collection, the Library of American Civilization, and part of the

ERIC The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* a ...

education document collection.

Audio-Visual Collection

The Media Center contains the Library's audio-visual collection. The collection features recordings, audiocassettes, videocassettes, DVDs, slides,

computer software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

, CD-ROM multimedia products, and audio-visual kits.

Covenanter Collection

The Covenanter Collection, located on stack level three, contains books, pamphlets, and periodicals relating the

Covenanter Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from '' Covena ...

tradition. Included in the collection are works about Covenanter theology and history, the

, and some of the denomination's individual congregations. These materials can be accessed with the help of a

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time ...

Macartney Collection

Clarence Macartney bequeathed his substantial library to the McCartney Library. The theological portion of the Macartney Collection is housed in the Library's tower room. The remainder of the collection is housed in the compact shelving located on the Library's ground floor. The Collection is composed primarily of the personal library and papers of

Clarence Edward Noble Macartney Clarence Edward Noble McCartney (September 18, 1879 – February 19, 1957) was a prominent conservative Presbyterian pastor and author. With J. Gresham Machen, he was one of the main leaders of the conservatives during the Fundamentalist– ...

, a prominent American preacher and church leader during the first half of the twentieth century. The books in the collection reflect Dr. Macartney's interests in preaching, public speaking, religion, and

U.S. Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states tha ...

history. These materials can be accessed with the help of a librarian.

Juvenile Materials

The Children's Collection is located in the West Reading Room. The collection contains children's fiction and

nonfiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with bei ...

books, including

John Newbery Medal The John Newbery Medal, frequently shortened to the Newbery, is a literary award given by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), to the author of "the most distinguished contr ...

and

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Servic ...

winning titles.

References

External links

The Geneva College McCartney Library websiteThe Geneva College websiteWillet Hauser Architectural Glass websiteMcShane Bell Foundry website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mccartney Library University and college academic libraries in the United States Geneva College Libraries in Pennsylvania Towers in Pennsylvania