Library History

When the North American Theological Seminary opened its doors in the Fall of 1957, there was not one book in its library.

The first book was accessioned in November, when Jacksonville College librarian Orland Jack Wages assisted Dr. and Mrs. John Gregson in setting up the seminary library. The Student Center served as the first library quarters.

William Charles Pruitt, Jr. was elected as the first librarian and began serving that fall. He served in this position until 1972.

The seminary board accepted President Gerald Kellar’s proposal to construct a separate library building to house an estimated 25,000 volumes. The formal opening of the Kellar Library, named in honor of Dr. Gerald Kellar by the seminary board, was on February 18, 1964.

Some 4,300 volumes of books were moved from the Student Center to the new library building.

Seminary president John W. Gregson successfully raised $30,000 from Jacksonville businessmen to purchase books, periodicals, indexes, and $10,000 for shelves and card catalog cabinets.

The seminary's name was changed from North American Theological Seminary to Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary.

James C. Blaylock, who had worked as a library assistant since 1966, was elected acting librarian upon Dr. Pruitt's departure.

After Blaylock received his Master of Library Science degree from Texas A & M-Commerce in 1980, he was elected as library director and served until his retirement in 2018.

Library holdings increased to 11,000 volumes, and a trustee committee was selected to study and devise a plan for enlarging the library facility.

The library became a member of the American Theological Library Association, and the director began attending the ATLA's annual sessions.

The library reached 20,000 volumes that year. Because of space problems, some books had to be stored in the former library shelves in the Student Center.

This year was designated by seminary president John W. Duggar and the seminary board as a year of special offerings for the seminary library expansion.

When $80,000 had been raised, construction began on the library addition, which was completed later in that same year. The seminary board named the addition the John W. Duggar Library Annex.

The library began charging out materials on the new Gaylord Book Charger system.

A cataloging software computer program, Bib-Base, was installed. Later, the Public Access Catalog of Bib-Base was implemented at the library.

Seminary president Philip R. Bryan initiated the annual Friends of the Library campaign, called the Scroll and Parchment Society, to raise funds to purchase library books. The goal of 50,000 books in the library was reached in April.

With all media cataloged since 1987 in the public access online catalog, and due to a lack of card catalog space, the card catalog was closed. Retro-conversion of materials prior to 1987 to the online catalog then began.

The library subscribed to the ATLA Religion Indexes on CD-ROM. This database indexes religious periodical literature. The ATLA Religion Indexes later became available online and continue to be used in that form.

The library subscribed to OCLC FirstSearch Databases, providing the school with access to a variety of databases for finding books, articles, films, computer software, internet resources, and other materials.

The library received access to ATLAS, a full-text periodical database, from the American Theological Library Association. Students and faculty can locate and use full-text periodical articles online.

The DOS-based cataloging software in use since 1987 was replaced by Athena, a Windows-based software program. The new software program included the library’s first automated circulation system, allowing materials to be checked out via the computer.

The library catalog was placed on the school’s website, allowing access via the Internet.

The library has 66,800 books (which includes 8,342 volumes of bound periodicals), 5,444 audio tapes, 762 video tapes, 543 microfiche, 349 microfilm, 8,426 yearbooks and minutes, and other items. There are 84,135 items in 26 collections in the library.

Jacob Gucker, who had been Assistant Librarian for a number of years, became Acting Librarian after James C. Blaylock retired after more than fifty-two years of service to Kellar Library.

Mr. Gucker holds a Master of Library and Information Science and has led the digital revolution that now makes the resources of Kellar Library available to students around the globe.

Mr. Gucker resigned from serving as the Acting Librarian to pursue other opportunities. Phillip Waddell became the Acting Assistant Library Director and continues to lead Kellar Library toward a stronger digital presence that serves all students, regardless of location.