Beloved people of God: 

Another semester is over in the Seminary. Exams were written during the latter part of January and the second semester is now under way. The first half of the school year has gone by swiftly, and in it we have had many tokens of God’s favor, not the least of which is the progress of our students. Conscious of God’s blessing, we are mindful of the many prayers which you make for us. 

The chief purpose of this letter, however, is to give you some news concerning work which is being done for the expansion of our library. 

If you have read the Acts of the last Synod, you probably noticed that Synod decided to microfilm all Synodical archives which are at present in the home of Synod’s Stated Clerk. We have asked the Synodical Committee and the Theological School Committee to carry out this mandate of Synod for the benefit of our Seminary Library. We hope that two microfilm copies can be made of the archives—one for the churches and one for the School Library. 

If these microfilmed archives are to have value for the students and faculty, however, we need what is called a reader. We are presently investigating the purchase of such a reader which can also be used as a copier to copy anything on microfilm for personal or class use. There are additional advantages to such a reader-copier. For one thing, there are many valuable books which are out of print but which can be purchased on microfilm and which can be added to the Library in this way, For another thing, we are considering the possibility of expanding this section of our Library to include anything which is of historical interest to our Protestant Reformed Churches. Exactly what this will include has not yet been determined. But such a section in our Library will be valuable for historical research of many different kinds. 

All of this will require a considerable outlay of money—somewhere in the neighborhood of $3000.00 to purchase the equipment. We are working with the T.S.C. to see if the money can be raised. We consider this to be a valuable addition to the Library and commend this cause to you.

In the meantime we are buying new and used books all the time. This is possible be cause of the generous gifts of the readers of the Standard Bearer; and we express our thanks to all of you who have contributed to this cause. 

As your prayers are for us, so our prayers are for you and for God’s blessing upon our Churches and all the cause of His kingdom. 

Fraternally, 

The Faculty