ALABI 2007–Session 2
On last Wednesday afternoon, we had session 2 of the ALABI meeting. What follows is my summary of the second session. But first, I want to mention to talk about the disaster preparedness forum that I forgot to mention in my last post.
Disaster Preparedness Forum
The forum involved Bill Sumners of the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, and Jeff Griffin, the director of the library at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. It was interesting hearing Jeff’s perspective on the subject due to the disaster issues they had to deal with in New Orleans after Katrina. After all, how do you prepare for being away from your collection for over six weeks while it languishes in the New Orleans heat and humidity because your HVAC system is down? Jeff talked a great deal about leadership in such situations, and he offered that when you go through disaster, leadership is key. Some workers may not be able to give orders to people or make decisions for a variety of reasons. They may be effective in day to day operations, but they may not be very creative, and that is exactly what you need in a time of crisis. Jeff also talked about the benefit that the Southern Baptist Convention was to NOBTS. He said that the Cooperative Program really came in handy. Over 5000 volunteers from the SBC have helped there at one point or another. The volunteers laid over 100 tractor trailer loads of sod, so NOBTS is now the most identifiable piece of land in their parrish. Bill also talked about numerous small disasters that they have had over the years at SBHLA.
Session 2– Decoding the Mission Statement of the Baptist History and Heritage Society: Helping Baptists Discover, Conserve, Assess, and Share Their History
Yep. That is a long title, but it is not as long as An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens in which the Religious State of the Different Nations of the World, the Success of Former Undertakings, and the Practicability of Further Undertakings, are Considered. Baptists tend to do you the courtesy of telling you exactly what they’re going to tell you about directly before they tell you about it. The original title of this post was “ALABI 2007–Session 2 Summary, in Which Is Presented the Previously Overlooked Contribution of Jeff Griffin and Bill Sumners to the Subject of Disaster Preparedness via a Forum on Said Subject, as well as an Explanation of the Mission Statement of the Baptist History and Heritage Society with Particular Attention Given to Discovery, Conservation, Assesment, and Sharing.” I was afraid the title would break feed readers all over the place, though, so I relented. 
Charles Deweese, director of the Baptist History and Heritage Society, presented the second session, and I really did find it very informative. This is only my second year in ALABI, and I never had the privilege of attending an SBLA meeting, so I knew nothing of its history. I was somewhat familiar with the historical relationship between the Southern Baptist Historical Commission, the Southern Baptist Historical Society, and the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, but I really knew very little about how the SBHS became the BHHS following the defunding of the SBHC. I also did not know anything about the relationship between ALABI and the BHHS. I knew that the ALABI meeting always took place directly proceeded BHHS meeting, that the two meetings usually met in the same general location, and that many of the members of ALABI also attended the BHHS meeting, but I never really knew why all this was the case. After listening to Dr. Deweese and asking a whole bunch of questions during the meeting, I think I understand now. I appreciate Alan Lefever’s patience in explaining much of this to me. In short, the two groups are independent. SBLA originally sprang out of a breakout session for librarians at the SBHS meetings. I will add more about the relationship and history in a later post.
Deweese talked briefly about the fact that the BHHS is moving to the Atlanta campus of Mercer University. He then began to unpack the mission statement of the organization. He said that the BHHS is unapolegetically Baptist. While he believes there is enormous value in all Christian communities, he claims that the Baptist approach to the New Testament is a good approach, and worth talking about. He himself was raised to “think, feel, and do Baptist.” He said that he believes it’s important to lay out one’s distinctives.
He offered that the BHHS is a true society. They have to raise a lot of money to keep it going. Fifty five percent of his work is raising money, and contributions come from many different groups. Dr. Pam Durso is in charge of operations. The society has close to 900 members comprised of both individuals and libraries. He claims that the membership is becoming more representative of the name. I suppose that he means that there is an increasingly larger number of members coming from outside of the South, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the United States.
The primary thrusts of the organization are publication and communication. He noted that they are not a library or archival organization. He talked about several upcoming meetings of the BHHS, and several upcoming publications that they have in the works. I won’t go into detail about all of these since the information will be available on their website later.
